Bobcats Hold Reading Timeout At Charlotte Nature Museum

Flying squirrels, snakes, snapping turtles, hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and Bobcats -- those were just a few of the creatures presented to 45 children from the Billingsville Elementary School Science Club on Monday as Emeka Okafor and Bobcats Dance Team member, Pam, hosted a Reading Timeout at the Charlotte Nature Museum.

The anticipation for the event was building early as the children arrived at the museum by school bus at 3:00 p.m. and were directed to a room filled with stuffed wildlife animals and other live creatures that would be unveiled later.

Sporting their new Read To Achieve T-shirts, the children anxiously awaited the start of the afternoon event. Okafor and Pam were greeted with a rousing ovation as they entered the room with the excitement apparent on each young science club member’s face.

Okafor started the afternoon off by reading The Flying Squirrel-Acorn Place to the children. After reading a few pages in the book, he began selecting volunteers from the audience to read aloud with him. After each page was read, Okafor chose a new volunteer from the numerous hands that filled the air waiting for the opportunity to read before their classmates.

“I’m just trying to communicate the importance of reading to these kids,” said Okafor of his mission today. “If someone that they see on television in a basketball game tells them to (read), it has a pretty big impact on them.”

When Okafor’s book was done, the children directed their attention to Pam where they listened to the story of One Tiny Turtle. Those who didn’t get the opportunity to read with Okafor, were able to get their turn reading with Pam.

“Having the kids read with us was the most rewarding part of the day for me,” Pam commented. “This was the first time we have actually done that. I thought it was great!”

The floor was then turned over to museum staff member, Lisa Hoffman, who fascinated the children with a flying squirrel and many other creatures. The wildlife demonstration proved both educational and humorous for the children.

At one point Hoffman removed a small, delicate insect known as walking stick from inside a tank, allowing it to crawl over her fingers and up and down her arm. As the insect made it’s way to her back, she called for the assistance of Okafor to retrieve it for her. The Charlotte big man found grabbing the insect to be a little bit more difficult than grabbing rebounds.

“I’ve never seen a walking stick before,” Okafor later commented. “Those things were so small, I felt like my fingers were going to squash it!”

As the demonstration was just about over, the Nature Museum had one more nocturnal creature to unveil to the children. As Hoffman led the class in a chant of “Bobcats, Bobcats, Bobcats,” the noise grew louder and louder. All of a sudden, bursting through the door was Charlotte’s very own Rufus Lynx.

The children applauded and slapped high fives with the mascot as Okafor and Pam said their final farewells and the event was brought to a close.

“We were really excited to have Emeka and Pam out today,” Hoffman said. “Anytime we can make that connection to the community and inspire kids to read, we are doing something great! We try to do it everyday with our programming, but to add another layer to it is always special.”

After the event, Okafor felt good about what he had helped accomplish.

“This shows the kids that we care about their education,” he said. “That’s why I love going out into the community and doing these kinds of things.”