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The 7th Annual Los Angeles Lakers “Be a CHAMPION...and Read!” Reading Challenge was a huge success! This year, over 650 teachers and over 15,000 students from 49 schools throughout Los Angeles participated in the challenge, sponsored by Chevron and the Lakers Youth Foundation.
Of those students who participated, almost 40% finished the challenge of reading six “chapter” books in six weeks. Students who finished were entered into a drawing to win tickets to a Lakers home game this season. The Lakers awarded almost 2,000 tickets to students to attend home games in March and April. In addition, 70 classrooms reported 100% completion this year. Those classrooms were eligible to win one of three Grand Prizes!
The first Grand Prize was awarded to Aurelia Huerta’s 4th grade class at Montara Avenue Elementary School. Ms. Huerta’s entire class received tickets to the Lakers home game on Sunday, April 13th. The students enjoyed an afternoon at STAPLES Center watching the Lakers take on the San Antonio Spurs. As an added treat, the Lakers were victorious, beating the Spurs 106-85!
The second Grand Prize was awarded to Amy Gehrig’s 4th grade class at Craig Williams Elementary. In addition to the Lakers bags, which were given to every student who completed the challenge, Ms. Gehrig’s class was awarded Lakers bags full of books and school supplies! Each student received brand new pens, crayons, erasers, a notepad, a Spy Kids book and a Lakers pencil pouch!
And finally, the third Grand Prize was awarded to the students at Carr Elementary School. Carr had the highest completion rate out of all the participating schools, with 91% of their students completing the challenge and seven classrooms with 100% student completion!
On Friday, April 18, the Lakers had a surprise ice cream party for the students of Carr Elementary. While they were enjoying their special treat in the school cafeteria, the students received another surprise! Lakers players Luke Walton and Jordan Farmar and the Laker Girls stopped by to congratulate them on their stellar performance in the Challenge this year. Each student was invited up on stage to receive their Lakers prize and each classroom took a photograph with the players and Laker Girls. Before they left, the school presented the Lakers with homemade cookies on plates hand-painted by Carr students!
--Darlene Crider, Librarian at Fern Elementary School |
“I love reading and feel it is so important for the students to see people they look up to supporting the love of reading,” Darlene Crider, Librarian at Fern Elementary School, said of the Challenge. “Thank you to the Lakers for continuing to push this message.”
“Thank you so much, for everything, especially the wonderful opportunity for our students to participate in this fabulous program,” Tara Kirkland, Special Projects Teacher at Zela Davis School, said. “It really does help the students get really excited about reading.”
“The students have really enjoyed being part of the Lakers Reading Challenge,” Karen Brown, Third Grade Teacher at Banyan Elementary School, said. “It has not only encouraged them to read, but it has also helped them to work as a team. They made a decision to have 100% of the class complete the Challenge. We promised that we would all do our part to reach the class goal. I am proud to report that the class did work as a team and we did reach our goal. Thank you for this opportunity!”
In the past seven years, the Lakers Reading Challenge has encouraged over 145,000 students to read for Lakers prizes and tickets. To learn more about the Lakers “Be a CHAMPION…and Read!” Reading Challenge, call the Community Relations Hotline at (310)426-6100.
