SAN ANTONIO -
SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 13, 2014) – Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) launched today the Rodeo Read Trip, a staff-wide service effort to generate pride and enthusiasm for learning and reading and to promote education in AT&T Center neighborhood schools. Over the course of the Spurs and Rampage Rodeo Road Trip, SS&E employees will volunteer their time to various literacy projects in partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) and the Promise Zone.
In its first year, the Rodeo Read Trip will focus on six elementary schools and two middle schools in the Sam Houston High School feeder pattern. Participating schools include: Bowden Elementary, Cameron Elementary, Gates Elementary, Hirsch Elementary, Miller Elementary, Pershing Elementary, Davis Middle School and Wheatley Middle School.
Eight SS&E teams will be assigned to each participating school to focus on projects including: delivering books to schools, reading to students, designing and installing Little Libraries throughout the community and assisting in writing short stories. Additional surprises and contests will be awarded to the students and staff participating throughout the Read Trip.
“Spurs Sports & Entertainment continues to strive toward creating a culture of success, not just inside our organization, but also in our community,” said Rick Pych, Spurs Sports & Entertainment President of Business Operations. “The Rodeo Read Trip will be an annual opportunity for our staff to confront the immediate issue of literacy in our neighborhood schools in the hopes of building a long-term legacy of change in our community.”
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress 43 percent of students who test in the lowest level of literacy live in poverty. Furthermore, “The Literacy Crisis” found that 61 percent of low income families have no age appropriate books in their home for children. The ability to read is a fundamental building block to ensuring success in school and beyond. Through the Rodeo Read Trip, SS&E hopes to move the literacy needle in the schools surrounding the AT&T Center while addressing one of SA2020’s eleven key causes: education.
Students and schools will also be encouraged to register and compete to win their school a one-of-a-kind Spurs Sports & Entertainment themed BiblioTech outfitted with updated technology, more than 150 age-appropriate titles and ten e-readers for students to use. The winning school will be announced at the AT&T Center on Feb. 27 during a celebration of the first annual Rodeo Read Trip.
Stay up to date with the Rodeo Read Trip by visiting Spurs.com/ReadTrip and by using the hashtag #ReadTripSA on Twitter.
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