On March 10, Bedford Hills Elementary School completed a two week Read-A-Thon where all students were encouraged to read as many minutes as they could between March 1-10, 2022. The festivities kicked off during Read Across America week and the school celebrated with spirit days such as "dress like your favorite book character day", "dress for the career of your dreams", "wacky-tacky mis-matchy day", "cozy PJ day" and "team or school spirit day."
The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) worked with Principal Steele to set an ambitious goal to exceed the 65,000 Minutes the school read during the 2021 Read-A-Thon. They set a stretch goal to read for 100,000 Minutes and ended the Read-A-Thon by reading a collective 155,304 Minutes! All BHS students participated in the Read-A-Thon by counting their reading minutes at home and at school. Parents sent emails to family members and friends and the school raised over $15,000 from 386 sponsors and family and local business sponsorships. This comes as a great relief to the PTO who was not able to host their Fall Carnival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Principal Steele said, “The funds we raise are certainly helpful, but instilling a love of reading and knowing they have so much support from the staff, families and the entire community is so encouraging to our students! Reading is the foundation of all learning and we are so grateful to each and every person who has supported our students and the Read-A-Thon! Keep reading, Huskies!”
Read-A-Thon funds will support critical school needs such as teacher and grade level allowances to purchase supplies for their classrooms; Husky T-shirts for every Kindergartener and 3rd grader, flexible seating for classrooms, equipment to outfit the gymnasium facility and supplies for events like the Back-to-School Block Party and Great Pumpkin Adventure! Several big dreams that can now be explored are to add to the STEM-lab in the library and repair the playground's basketball backboards and rims.
Principal Steele promised to do "something groovy" if students exceeded 100,000 minutes of reading! Every student will receive a Funquest coupon and the classroom in each grade who accumulated the most minutes will receive a gift card prize from MayLynn's Creamery, Pok-E-Joe's, Panera, Montana Plains, Joe Bean's or Golf Park Coffee. The top three students with the most minutes will receive a Hillcats Baseball prize pack from Southpaw, the Hillcats mascot. The top student reader (who read for 4,977 minutes) will also receive a new bicycle and helmet from One Community, One Voice and their B.I.K.E program partnership with Lynchburg City Schools! Other generous Read-A-Thon sponsors include Brownstone Properties, Kona Ice, Laura Simms Webb Realtor and Lynchburg Organic Cleaning.