Hornets stand out as reading mentors
Scotlandville Magnet High School football players are not just athletes but also great mentors.
The players gathered at Scotlandville Elementary School on April 25 to read to students during the “Read to Achieve” event organized by Erica Courtney, fifth-grade teacher at Scotlandville Elementary.
“Most of our elementary school students have family that attend the high school, too,” said Courtney. “Who better to promote something positive in their lives and become reading mentors?”
The Hornets football players had a significant role in the “Read to Achieve” elementary reading program.
When asked questions such as: How does it feel to be looked up to as a role model, What did you gain from the “Read to Achieve” program, and What did you enjoy the most about the “Read to Achieve” program the players responses shows that there is UNITY within their team because they all agreed with a lot of things, the most important factor being that education is the key to SUCCESS!!
“It feels absolutely great to be looked up to as a role model and to have children admire you. What did you gain from this experience? I gained a lot it’s all passion, just being here and enjoying the kids company, its fun when you have people surround you like that it almost makes me feel famous,” said junior Fullback and linebacker Joshua Terrell.
“It feels good to be looked up to as a role model I’m glad to be getting my school work done because that’s what comes first and to me that’s what a role model is. How do you feel that the RTA program helps? Reading is everything, you have to have reading before you can have anything else and it’s better to be looked at as an academic scholar than just an athlete or a regular student,” said sophomore strong safety Darius Bell.
“I have a little sister of my own so I try to teach her the fundamentals and the right things to do just as I did when I was growing up you have to have the brains in order to go places in life. What did you gain? To always read, always make good grades, because without good grades you can’t make it and you certainly can’t play on any team. Clark’s advice to the students is to always know that school comes first,” said sophomore offensive tackle La’Allan Clark.
“I know that little kids look up to us so I try to be a positive role model everyday. Reading is everything it’s not about community service it’s about education and the kids need to know this,” said junior strong safety Dondre’ Dobbins.
“When it comes to being a role model it’s very important because everybody needs someone that they can look up to. I gained a lot from this experience because for someone to look up to me I know that it’s going to help in the long run. Athletics and academics go hand-in-hand because if you don’t make the grades you don’t get to play so if you want to play you have to make sure that you have the proper grades strive hard and excel in everything that you do,” said junior defensive tackle Tanzel Smart.
When asked what did she enjoy the most about the “Read to Achieve” program Courtney said, she enjoyed seeing the students listening to the players read to them, they did a great job, and after reading the stories the players asked questions so I really enjoyed that. When asked how does the program help the students and what’s the long-term goals for the program Courtney said, It helps them with wanting to read so many of our kids are struggling to read so with them seeing the high school students read they look forward to reading even one of the players told them that they have to be able to read if they want to play on a team because one student asked what were the criteria if they wanted to play football and the player said you must make good grades so that was something really great.
Courtney hopes to make “Read to Achieve” an ongoing program.
By Lynwood ALbert
The Drum Newpaper reporter
Jozef Syndicate 