LINGLE – To honor World Read Aloud Day, the Lingle-Fort Laramie high school girls’ basketball team read to the Lingle-Fort Laramie elementary students on Thursday morning before school.
“It was just a reason to celebrate reading and get the kids excited to read,” LFL library clerk Denise Jackson said. “We can bring the kids together and show them that reading is important at any age.”
More than 50 elementary students were joined by 10 basketball players to read in the elementary library. The elementary students normally meet to read each morning, but they got a special treat Thursday with the high school girls joining them. Some players were paired off with the younger students, while others drew big crowds around them.
The basketball girls are no strangers to reading in the mornings, as they have met to read at 7:30 a.m. each Monday morning this winter. This week they moved the occasion to Thursday to accommodate for World Read
Aloud Day.
“These girls have close ties with the community. The teachers from the elementary school were their teachers so it’s really nice to come back and revisit them,” LFL girls’ basketball coach Matt Cornelius said. “(The players) really get a lot out of it.”
Cornelius said that he expects the trend of the players reading to their younger counterparts to continue for years to come.
“We somehow find a way to connect with the community and younger kids,” he said. “It’s only 20 minutes a day once a week, but it definitely means a lot.”
