Brookfield Elementary School secretary Barb Simon hands a certificate to Cassie Harris for reading the most minutes during the Read-A-Thon, 2,285 over a two-week period,
For Barb Simon, the students at Brookfield Elementary School are the stars. Each year that the school holds Read-A-Thon, she celebrates the entire student body for reading, which is how the school raises money for special projects.
But, on Oct. 30, elementary Principal Stacey Filicky moved the spotlight to Simon, who coordinates the Read-A-Thon for the school.
This year’s Read-A-Thon – the seventh at the school – raised $21,027 to build an outdoor classroom, based on 87,808 minutes of reading.
“Mrs. Simon, we will be naming our outside building in your honor, and a beautiful plaque will be created by Maker Space,” Filicky said. “Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, and our kids and I love you.”
For the Read-A-Thon, students get sponsors, who donate outright or based on the number of minutes a student reads during a two-week period.
Past Read-A-Thons raised money for projects such as buying playground equipment, books for a literacy program and computers, and funding field trips.
“Basically, it’s a pavilion that’s gonna have picnic tables made by our school district underneath, where our kids can go outside on nice days and do some learning outside,” Filicky said of the outdoor classroom.
The high school’s pre-apprenticeship program is making the picnic tables, she said, adding that she has secured donations such as discounts on materials, and hopes to have the help of local construction companies to build the classroom.
The top readers were: Cassie Harris, 2,285 minutes; Iris Thompson, 2,167; Hayden Lawson, 1,844; Julianna Wason, 1,611; and Marissa Capretta, 1,540.
Eric Montesano’s fourth-grade classroom read the most minutes, 8,316.
The top fundraisers by grade were Mitchell Wollam, kindergarten, $1,235; Harper Belaney, first grade, $506; Jackson DeBlase, second grade, $565; Brycen Lautanen, third grade, $880; and Calvin Carlton, fourth grade, $450.
Jessica Flanagan’s kindergarten classroom raised the most money, $3,180, the first time any classroom had topped $3,000.
“The more you read, the more you achieve,” Filicky told the school board on Oct. 15. “This is a really good program to help our kids want to be part of that.”
