A Springville Elementary third grader student was recently cited by the township board of education for his efforts in the 10th annual Jump Into Reading Challenge hosted by state Sen. Troy Singleton.
The challenge – to read as many books as possible – took place in district elementary schools from Oct. 6 through Nov. 14 as a way to inspire a love of reading for students in grades one through four. Every time a book is completed, readers fill out a log with the book’s title and the date they finished reading.
The student who reads the most books is awarded a gift certificate to bowl with a group of up to six people at Laurel Lanes. Top readers overall in their grade get a special plaque.
“When I was a student just like you, I was very fortunate to have great teachers and staff members at my school and they worked very hard to teach me the importance of reading,” Singleton recalled in the challenge announcement letter to students.
“(Teachers) encouraged me to find books that would interest me and to read every day,” he added, “and because of this, I developed a life-long love of reading. This love of reading has benefitted me throughout my life, and I wanted to help your teachers and principals do the same for you.”
Reyansh Reddy was this year’s top reader. Superintendent Dr. George Rafferty presented him with a certificate of recognition at an April board meeting.
“Every year Mount Laurel participates (in the Jump Into Reading Challenge), primarily all of our elementary schools do,” Rafferty noted at the meeting. “(Reddy) read more books than anybody in his school, then he read more than anybody in elementary schools in Mount Laurel, then he read more books than anybody that participated in the whole county.
“That’s really outstanding.
“We’re just so proud of you,” he told Reddy. “Dr. Vespe (told me), ‘I have a special student over here at Springville that I want to tell you about,’ (and) it was Reyansh. She gave us all the information on you and I said, ‘This is amazing, we have to do something special (to recognize) him,’ so we decided to recognize you tonight.”
