Lynchburg elementary school students read combined 512,109 minutes for Read-A-Thon

Officials say four elementary schools raised a combined total of $44,110

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash (WDIV)

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Students at four Lynchburg elementary schools were reading and reading ... and reading some more for this year’s Read-A-Thon.

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Officials say students at Bedford Hills Elementary, Paul Munro Elementary, T. C. Miller Elementary, and R. S. Payne Elementary read for a combined 512,109 minutes, raising a combined total of $44,110 for their school PTOs.

“It’s been wonderful to see the Read-A-Thon program expand to four of our elementary schools since it started with Bedford Hills in 2020,” said PTO Connect Coordinator and parent volunteer Megan Huffman. “Each school has been so creative promoting literacy education and has made reading so much fun. The engagement of families and friends through fundraising is an amazing byproduct that helps fund critical PTO programming.”

Bedford Hills Elementary School completed a 10-day Read-A-Thon on March 10, where all students were encouraged to read as many minutes as they could during the challenge, school district officials said, and they read a collective 178,875 minutes.

According to LCS officials, these were the top readers and their prizes:

  • 4th/5th-Grade Category reader: Liza Manley, who won a new bike and helmet from LCS partner One Community, One Voice, and their B.I.K.E program
  • KG/1st Grade Category reader: Corinne Arp, who won a bike from Bikes Unlimited
  • 2nd/3rd Grade Category reader: Megan Rumore, who won a bike from Bikes Unlimited.

We’re told second-place readers at BHES got SeaQuest VIP packages sponsored by SeaQuest, and the winning class at each grade level got a trophy and a “Popsicles on the Playground” party.

Altogether, Bedford Hills raised a gross fundraising total of $17,783, school officials said.

Paul Munro Elementary School held its Read-A-Thon from February 27 to March 8, and officials said the students read for a total of more than 106,000 minutes.

One Community, One Voice held a bike giveaway and an ice cream social for Mrs. Knapp’s class, who read the most, to celebrate, school district officials said.

Officials said PMES raised a gross fundraising total of $12,671.

T.C. Miller Elementary School held its Read-A-Thon from March 1 to March 16, and we’re told those students read for a total of 149,181 minutes.

One Community, One Voice gave away a hike to fifth-grade student Saa Kurd during a school-wide celebration with Pops Good Humor Ice Cream and Southpaw, officials said.

T.C. Miller raised a gross fundraising total of $7,804, according to LCS.

R.S. Payne Elementary School held its Read-A-Thon from March 2 to March 10 and officials said students read for a total of 78,053 minutes.

One Community, One Voice did another bike giveaway during a school-wide celebration, and the winner was Austin Friedman, a 5th-grade student who read 2,345 minutes, LCS said.

We’re told the school will celebrate with Kona Ice and award various other prizes for top readers later on.

R.S. Payne raised a gross fundraising total of $5,852 during its Read-A-Thon.


About the Author

Alli Graham came aboard the digital team as an evening digital content producer in June 2022.

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