Children love to read, but sometimes they do better with a bit of encouragement from community role models.
That’s the idea behind the Genoa Township Fire Department’s annual “Blaze a Trail to Literacy” campaign.
As part of the campaign, township firefighters go into second-grade classrooms at Alcott Elementary School and Walnut Creek Elementary to read to students and encourage them to read more on their own.
The campaign also includes a reading contest for second-graders. The school and one student from each school that reads the most minutes during March is presented with a plaque from firefighters for their achievement. The two top reading students are also designated Genoa Township juniors firefighters.
During a ceremony at last week’s Genoa Township trustees meeting, Audrey Reed from Alcott Elementary and Gino Prabhu from Walnut Creek Elementary were recognized as the 2016 top readers. Audrey read for 29 hours and 46 minutes during March; Gino read for 71 hours and 3 minutes in March, making him the 2016 Blaze a Trail to Literacy overall winner.
Second-grade teacher Molly Hogan attended the trustees meeting to accept the award for Walnut Creek for the school with the most minutes read by second-graders.
