The British Columbia Teacher-Librarians Association dropped the gauntlet, challenging the Premier, Members of the Legislature, and citizens across B.C. to “Drop Everything and Read” for 20 minutes on Monday, October 27.
To help do their part, the Vernon Vipers were out at Mission Hill Elementary School to participate in the event and read to their students.
Kevin Kraus, Mike Collins, Garrett Noonan and Cole Ikkala all showed up to the school with books in hand to Drop Everything And Read. The Vipers organization tries to get out to schools as much as possible to help teach kids the importance of reading and this event was one they weren't going to miss.
“We know how some kids look up to us” team captain Kevin Kraus commented. “For us to be at an event that focuses on the importance of reading, we knew we had to participate. It is fun to meet our younger fans, read some books and answer questions.”
Teacher-librarians strongly support the Premier's goal of making B.C. the most literate province in Canada and know the impact that good modeling has on children. With this goal in mind, they're encouraging all British Columbians to participate in the Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Challenge.
In most schools, the event was held between 11:00 am and 11:20 am, but the timing was not as important as involvement and the Vipers stayed for a lot longer than the 20 minutes originally scheduled. The players left the books they brought to be added to the school library and students were already asking if they can take them home.
The Vipers would like to thank Mission Hill Elementary for inviting them to the DEAR Challenge and look forward to visiting them again to read more books.
