Rotary Club encouraging students to read

The Pahrump Rotary Club has performed countless community service projects since its inception in 1987.

This month is no exception as members touted another project geared towards encouraging kids to read.

This month, the Rotarians paid a visit to Mt. Charleston Elementary School with approximately 1,000 books as part of its “Together We Read” program.

Rotary President Eddie Williams said the program is part of the club’s educational initiative to give the most underserved and hardest to reach children, the best chance for success.

“It’s a program that we started about three years ago in order to support pre-kindergarten through second grade,” Williams said. “We kind of adopted this school and since we started it, research has proven through evidence-based statistics, that the earlier kids start to read, the less time they will spend visiting the assistant principal’s office for her to deal with them. This is one of the ways that we decided to help our children in elementary school who might be struggling a little bit with reading or whatever.”

Williams also said the age-appropriate books were acquired by way of a grant through the Rotary District.

“We wrote it up and we applied for it and they approved it and we went out to purchase the books,” he said. “We are also stressing parental participation because the more we can get parents actively involved with the school and the administrators, the more effective the child’s education can be. There is also a challenge for the kids to create a project, drawing, or story about one of the books they have read along with their parents. The child and the teacher who wins the contest will be awarded a $100 gift card.”

Mt. Charleston Assistant Principal Candace Mapp applauded the efforts of the Rotarians.

“The kids love getting the books and having those at home to look at and read and share with their families,” she said. “Our new library has been a work in progress, but we’re getting there. We have low seating so the kids can access it and the books are organized differently than you would see in a typical library. We have the bins so that they can kind of explore and figure out what they like.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes