Students at West Leesville Elementary participate in Reading rally
Published 8:30 am Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Students at West Leesville Elementary School participated in a “Read with Malcolm Reading Rally” on Monday, Aug. 29, as part of a three-day Geaux READ Tour presented jointly by Share the Magic Foundation and The Rapides Foundation.
The reading rally was led by Malcolm Mitchell, published author, Super Bowl Champion, and Founder/CEO of the Share the Magic Foundation.
At the end of the rally, each student was given a copy of Mitchell’s book, “The Magician’s Hat”, and participated in a high-energy pep rally-style assembly that included a read-along and magic show.
Mitchell said he considers a love of reading to be his greatest achievement, and he said he founded Share the Magic with the sole purpose of transforming the lives of children through literacy.
“Thank you to The Rapides Foundation for making it possible for me and my foundation to share the magic of reading with so many children in the Geaux READ Tour. This is a very special event and a very important message: that in order to succeed you have to read. I was very excited to see the kids at each stop on the tour and I look forward to seeing everyone in Central Louisiana again soon,” Mitchell stated.
West Leesville Elementary students were among 3,500 students in nine schools to participate in reading rallies across Central Louisiana this past week.
The Geaux READ tour was held in conjunction with The Rapides Foundation’s ninth annual Symposium held on Thursday, Sept. 1. Each year, the Symposium recognizes the foundation’s establishment on Sept. 1, 1994 by bringing attention to a selected topic of importance.
This year’s Symposium focused on childhood literacy and featured Mitchell’s presentation, Read to a Better Future, where he described the transformational power of reading through his personal story and literacy-based research.
Since founding Share the Magic, Mitchell and his organization have reached more than 400,000 students across the country and internationally through Read with Malcolm Literacy Initiatives.
Organizers said the Geaux READ Tour provided an opportunity to reinforce the importance of encouraging reading at a young age so that children may be better prepared to achieve school success.
The Rapides Foundation’s mission is to improve the health status of Central Louisiana and large-scale improvement in educational attainment across the region is necessary for improved health status. It allocates 40 percent of its spending to its Educational Initiative to increase the level of educational attainment and achievement as the primary path to improved economic, social and health status.
