Celebrating Mount Vernon's 4th Annual Reading Challenge Achievers

From Mt. Vernon Schools:The Mount Vernon City School District gave away 125 donated nooks to students at the Superintendent’s Fourth Annual Reading Challenge Celebration at Traphagen Elementary School’s fields Thursday afternoon.

The carnival was held for students who reached their reading goals this school year. At the beginning of the school year, Superintendent Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton challenged kindergarten through eighth-grade students to read 200,000 books. He then invited students who achieved their goals to the end-of-year celebration. In total, students read approximately 218,000 books this school year.

“I wanted to come up with an incentive to get students excited about reading,” said Dr. Hamilton. “We started this program four years ago and each year it gets bigger and better. Students look forward to completing the Superintendent’s Reading Challenge so they can be part of this end-of-the-year celebration.”

The incentive worked for the Telford sisters. They love reading.

“I love to read,” said Brielle Telford, a second-grader at Traphagen. This is her third year getting a medal in this program. “I read 139 books this year. I have favorite topics like Amelia Bedelia and Junie B. Jones. Knowing about this carnival made me want to read even more.”

Her sister, Alana, is a kindergarten student at Traphagen. “I read 101 books,” she said proudly. “I really love to read and my favorite topic is pet books. This celebration made me want to read more books.”

Students enjoyed bounce houses, mechanical rides, inflatable slides, obstacle courses and games. A disc jockey, face painters, stilt walkers and a juggler kept the crowd entertained, along with OLI the Octopus – the school’s literacy mascot.

“The driving force behind this is making our community more literate and engaging the community more in a family activity,” Dr. Hamilton said.

The incentives are not limited to the carnival. Throughout the year students are celebrated with recognition, book gifts, and certificates as they move towards the goal. The two highest readers in each school attend a fun day with the Superintendent at New Roc City’s Fun Fuzion. This year it will take place on June 20.

“There is nothing more important for a student than the ability to not only read, but to read well, as it impacts their ability to learn in all facets of education,” Dr. Gayle White-Wallace, Standards Administrator for Pre-K, ELA, Literacy and Social Studies (Elementary). “Dr. Hamilton’s Superintendent’s Reading Challenge is an excellent incentive to help our students grow.”

Image via Mount Vernon Schools