Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools May/June 2016 | Page 16
Charlotte Hornets help bring the love of reading to Union Elementary
The air sizzled with excitement as students at Union Elementary clapped and
cheered while their teachers danced with Charlotte Hornets arena host Fly-Ty and
Hornets’ mascot Hugo.
The excitement came when Charlotte Hornets Book Bus rolled up to the school
April 21st to help the school kick off its Reading EOG unit and to help students
continue to build a love for reading.
David Stogdill, the Hornets’ Manager of Literacy Programs, said research shows
that music, a dynamic, high energy emcee like Fly-Ty, animated characters like Hugo
and Air Mini Hugo, and having general fun help students learn.
The Charlotte Hornets actively support education, Stogdill said, and attempt to go
to as many schools as possible with our program and mobile library.
“For me, it’s a way to show students the importance of reading in a different way,”
Stogdill, a former elementary school teacher, said. “When I was teaching, I could talk
till I was green in the face that it’s important to read every day. But if a funny, furry
Hornet says it’s cool, they’ll think it’s cool as well.”
Stogdill said they try to make the push for reading fun and entertaining. “When
they go home maybe they’ll remember, ‘Oh, Hugo thinks it’s fun to read.”
Union Elementary principal Jennifer Deaton said the Hornets bring with them a
love of learning and a love of reading.
“We’ve concentrated so hard this year to improve our students’ growth in
reading,” Deaton said. “So this is like a culminating activity to celebrate their success
and the work of the teachers because they’ve all been working very hard.”
“We believe that literacy starts at a young age, that’s why we want to come out
and inspire, encourage and empower the kids, letting them know that reading can not
only change their lives, but it can help build a great future,” Fly-Ty said. “Reading is
the foundation for everything they do in life.”
About 30 students were chosen from the crowd to come onto the Hugo Book Bus,
which is basically a library on wheels, and take home a book.
Charlotte Hornets arena host Fly-Ty, at left, and
Hornets’ mascot Air Mini Hugo, entertain about 375
students from Union Elementary School during the
Hornet’s Literacy Program.
Last year, the Hornets visited 190 schools, this year
they will visit more than 200. They travel about 35 miles
radius of Charlotte.
—This article was provided by the Union County Public
Schools Communications Office.
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14 • May/June 2016 • Parent Teacher News