PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Students from a Jacksonville charter school took part in a special event at The Players Championship Friday aimed at promoting and encouraging literacy.
Nemours Children’s Health partnered with Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan and her recently launched program “River City Readers.”
“We know that it increases their health, we know it increases their potential for a good job. We know that it increases their potential for success in life. We want all of our kids reading at grade level, and we want them loving reading,” Deegan said.
Event organizers hosted kindergarten students from Becoming Collegiate Academy, a Jacksonville charter school with kids up to second grade.
“The Players Championship focuses on making a positive impact within the community in which we play. That focus allows what we see here today on our side with all our business leaders, all of our volunteers, all of our fans, all to come together for a common cause,” The Players Championship Executive Director
Zoie was one of the special guests. She said her favorite book is The Cat in the Hat.
“It always makes me smart. Sometimes I get nervous. But I never give up. I keep on going with my book,” Zoie said.
Deegan’s new program encourages students to read at least 20 minutes a day.
The new goal this year is for students to log a total of 1 million minutes.
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Nemours Children’s Health has a similar program called Reading BrightStart!
This program is available in 61 of the 67 counties in Florida and 38 different states — fostering kids to learn fundamentals as early as possible.
Chief Population Health Officer at Nemours Children’s Health Dr. Kara Walker said that makes a difference in the long run.
“The early benefits of literacy are tremendous. They not only help support, strong brain development, but how children are prepared and exposed to reading. We know that reading is fundamental preparedness for kindergarten, to success in long-term school outcomes. It can be connected to things like how do kids really thrive in schools at the earliest ages,” Walker said.
Dr. Larry Moss, Nemours Children’s Health President and CEO, said the most important predictor of who is going to graduate from high school is reading proficiency in third grade.
“The trajectory for education and health over a lifetime is set in early childhood. Programs like this are hitting the sweet spot,” Moss said.
Those students did not leave The Players empty-handed.
Each one of them got free backpacks. Inside, there was a pencil in a bookmark, but there were also three or four different books for them to read and have fun doing so.
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Cameron Frazier, the principal at Becoming Collegiate Academy, observed his students being engaged and enthusiastic about reading.
“Believe that literacy is freedom. This opportunity today provides our students with an opportunity and expose them to literacy celebrate reading,” Frazier said.