Pep tunes from the Southmoreland Marching Band were heard all throughout the hallways of the Southmoreland Primary Center as children filed into the gymnasium to officially kick off their “Read Across the Year” program that utilizes a superhero theme to encourage reading.

“All of your teachers are wearing capes and some of the high school students are even wearing superhero masks,” Southmoreland Primary Center principal Mr. Dan Clara said to the students. “Do you know why? Because we want to be superheros of reading.”

In previous years the school used to do a week-long event of reading activities until teachers pointed out to Mr. Clara that “it shouldn’t be just a week long thing.” Now, students will be doing activities throughout the entire year to practice their reading skills. Each month every student is given a calendar to track how many hours each day a student reads at home or in school.

One of the most important questions that was took into consideration when choosing a theme for the event was “How do we make reading exciting?”

“We wanted to tie it to a theme that would get a lot of excitement,” said Mr. Clara.

And that excitement was shown as the children were dancing and clapping along to the music when about 30 members of the Southmoreland Band volunteered to play pep tunes for the event and were seen as role models to the children on Oct. 5.

“They’re the best role models we have,” said Mr. Clara. “Them volunteering indicates how important reading is to them, and these kids look to them to see what is important and cool. So for them to come here means that they think reading is important and cool, and the little ones will think that, too.”

Southmoreland Marching Band director Mr. Shawn Harris knew that his students would take time out of their busy schedules to be there for their fellow students.

“It shows support for the younger students and what developing good habits at a young age can turn into when they get older,” said Mr. Harris.

To close the event kick off the students were asked to say a pledge to affirm their hard work to the program.

“So I take this oath to make reading my way of feeding my brain what it needs everyday,” the students said in agreement.

The students and staff will meet again in the spring to review the progress that has been made by tallying each individual classroom’s progress and then the entire school’s progress.

“It’s one thing to come here and say we’re going to do this and make a lot of noise about it, but it’s another thing to actually do it,” said Mr. Clara. “Right now we’re at zero, and we’ll see where we end up.”

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Bailey Geehring

I am a senior and a second year editor for the Tam O'Shanter. I will attend California University of Pennsylvania in the fall to pursue a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
"Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud"- Maya Angelou

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