TEMPLE, Texas — Students from all Temple Independent School District schools are joining with community partners to participate in the district’s Read Lead Succeed! challenge to promote literacy and reading through March 8th.
The four-week program started February 9th and is designed to promote reading through a competition to see which students and schools can collect the most minutes reading throughout the week. Students are encouraged to read anything and log the minutes spent reading using an online portal. The elementary schools are also paired with a local business or community partner to read along with the students and add to their overall minutes. Each week, a group of district representatives will travel the district to award the top three readers in elementary, middle, and high school. In addition, a special hand-crafted trophy will travel weekly to the elementary and middle school with the highest accumulation of reading minutes. The first weekly awards were presented on Friday, February 16th.
“Temple ISD’s Read, Lead, Succeed initiative seeks to not only increase literacy, but also encourages a love of reading in our students,” said Dr. Lisa Adams, deputy superintendent of academics and school leadership for Temple schools. “We are so grateful to our community partners who have chosen to read with our students during this challenge. Their participation allows us to reinforce the idea that reading is a lifelong activity that helps everyone achieve their goals.”
The Read Lead Succeed! initiative follows a summer Readers are Leaders program that also awarded prizes to TISD students for the minutes they logged reading over the summer. Lamar Middle School librarian Sherry Burnett has helped lead both of those initiatives and is looking forward to expanding these offerings.
“Partnerships between families, schools, businesses, and community leaders create a collective effort to address literacy challenges. These partnerships are crucial for promoting literacy within a community,” Burnett said. “It promotes a sense of shared responsibility for literacy and creates a positive model for our students. This is our second district initiative, following the summer program, and hopefully, there are more to come. Reading is paramount in a child’s education. With the desire to improve literacy and the winning Wildcat spirit, we are set to do big things in TISD.”
The first group of Read Lead Succeed! winners recognized represent five different TISD campuses.
“I really like reading and thought this was a good way to maximize my time. I have really enjoyed reading new books and seeing how the stories turn out.” Sayan Alemon, an eighth grader at Lamar Middle School said.
“I thought that I might win a prize and it has been fun. My favorite book is ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr. Suess.” Said Western Hills Elementary second grader Deric Parsee.
The community partners participating in the initial Read Lead Succeed! challenge include: KCEN-TV, Workforce Solutions of Central Texas, Ralph Wilson Youth Club, Baylor Scott and White McLane Children’s, Temple College, the City of Temple, Extraco Banks, Temple Education Foundation, and the Temple ISD Board of Trustees.