When it comes to reading, few do it better than the students at Richard Mann Elementary School and there are some third-graders with receipts to prove it.
Congratulations to the students in the class of Ms. Monroe and Mr. Wilke, who have been crowned the New York State champs of this year’s READBowl, a national reading competition. From January 8 through February 11, students tracked the number of minutes they read each day and competed with other classrooms around the world.
The Gananda students logged 57,896 minutes of reading, tops in New York! Classrooms from 50 states and 14 countries were part of the READBowl, part of the Youth Literacy Initiative of Malcolm Mitchell, a retired NFL receiver who won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots.
“Winning a state championship is always prestigious,” said Mitchell in a statement. “However, this year is especially notable, as there were more than 280,000 students, from all 50 states and 14 countries on the reading field for the big game this year. I am so proud of every student who competed and congratulate our state and national champions. Training for READBowl 2025 begins now.”
Mitchell, who said he struggled to read as a student in school and college, has made it his mission to encourage reading habits for children. Mitchell has published several children’s books including The Magician’s Hat (2016) and My Very Favorite Book In the Whole World (2020).
The Gananda champions celebrated their title on March 1 with their championship certificate and what else? Some more reading time in class!