Rotary Reading Challenge complete: WHA second-graders read for 108,083 minutes

The Walker Rotary Reading challenge has been completed!

On April 23 — Shakespeare’s birth and death date — Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Elementary Principal Jill McGowan and preschool teacher Erica Strandlie filled Rotarians in on the details. The theme this year was “Reading is the Passport to Countless Adventures.”

The goal was to get kids to read a little more at school and with intentional reading at home — 35 minutes per day, total. The goals were met, with a combined second grade total of 108,083 minutes.

March was a time of celebration! There were a number of reading incentives for each student along the challenge.

In November, a stopwatch; December was a Reading Passport with stickers to put on the pages; January had a globe zipper pull for their backpacks; and in February each child got to select a book to keep at home. The March treat to celebrate was a project to make an airplane of wafer cookies, frosting and M&M’s. They looked very cute and yummy.

There were also themed dress up days in March — such as hat day, mix and match day, pajama day, spirit day and destination day.

Thanks to Northern Engineering, Leer Title, Pederson Family Dental, Baker Law Office, Stifel Investments and D.W. Jones in addition to Rotary for sponsoring these projects. Fifty-one second-grade students greatly benefited from this activity and the weekly reading to them by the Rotary volunteers Mary Cook, Alice Groth, Barb Gorman, Sherren Foss and Jane Ekholm.

The benefits of reading cannot ever be fully measured. Congratulations to all the super-well-behaved second-graders and their teachers and aides.

Submitted by Walker Rotary