On Wednesday, September 22, Warriors Forward James Michael McAdoo and Assistant Coach Bruce Fraser joined over 500 students at San Jose’s Robert F. Kennedy Elementary to highlight the importance of reading and to host a fun interactive reading event. Warriors Hype Woman Ruby Lopez welcomed the students to the Read-To-Achieve Back To School Rally in the school cafeteria and brought the house down when introducing McAdoo and Coach Fraser.
“This Read To Achieve program is super fun, and the excitement these students have about reading together, their spirit makes this a special event,” said Coach Fraser.
Lopez led a Q&A session with the two members of the Warriors organization who helped lead the team to back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals. Both discussed their favorite books growing up, and how they challenged themselves to read new books and reach goals both on the court and in the classroom.
“Reading was very fundamental to me at a young age to learn about things that I enjoy as well as things that challenged me,” said McAdoo. “As a kid I struggled with math, so what I did was read the math textbooks over and over, until is eventually became one of my strongest subjects in high school. I want to encourage these kids to invest their time in their own futures.”
McAdoo and Fraser then led the students through an interactive reading of the books Lyle Lyle, Crocodile and 5 Little Monkeys, inviting Reading Partners students on stage to read aloud while their classmates followed the story on captioned illustrations on nearby screens. After each story, Lopez asked the students questions about the story’s plotline and protagonists, allowing students to earn Warriors prizes for correct answers.
“I loved seeing our students reading the story in front of their classmates proudly and excitedly,” said Reading Partners Silicon Valley Executive Director Aarika Riddle. “It’s great to see the Warriors visiting today to emphasize the importance of literacy, helping to close our community’s education gap and rewarding them with today’s event.”
After, the students all took the Read to Achieve Pledge to read every day and explore new worlds and topics through the written word. Before the event’s conclusion, Lopez surprised the students by announcing that every student would go home with a new book, courtesy of Ross Stores.
“Coach Fraser and James Michael really showed to the kids today how reading and literacy is really important but also a lot of fun”, said Ross Stores Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Leslie Oestreicher. “Literacy is a really important part of philanthropic mission, and the Read To Achieve program with the Warriors is a fantastic way to combine our passions for literacy education among the youth.”
This Reading Time-Out was the final event of the Warriors Back to School in the Bay campaign. With the campaign tip-off on July 28 and running through the end of September, the Warriors aim to impact over 10,000 Bay Area youth and provide 2,000 backpacks and school supplies to schools throughout the Bay Area.