MISS SPRINGVILLE
Twenty-five years ago, Madison Monson’s great-grandparents built a school and library in a poverty-stricken village in Mexico. Along with her family, she has provided ongoing support for this school by collecting books, toys, clothing and school supplies. Even at a young age, she found ways to contribute by sacrificing her Happy Meal toys to donate to these children. Through their work, her great-grandparents taught her first-hand that service and literacy were keys to a better life.
Madison was crowned Miss Springville/ Mapleton 2015 in March and has chosen to donate her time to encouraging children in the community to “Read to Succeed.” Madison knew that there was a similar need to encourage literacy in our community and that she could apply what she had learned in Mexico to make a difference. Springville and Mapleton elementary schools are in need of additional community support. There are students that are not reading at grade level and do not have access to a variety of books in their homes. She helped fulfill this need by organizing a book drive to build a stronger take-home reading library program.
Through the combined efforts of family, friends and our community, Madison collected over 1,000 books and over $500 in donations for Cherry Creek Elementary School. This contribution will grant each child access to books that interest them and motivate them to read outside of class and allow the school to purchase grade-specific books designed to improve literacy skills.
In addition to satisfying the need for books and resources in our elementary schools, Madison has continued to encourage our local children to read. She has read in classrooms and spoken at assemblies and is currently focusing on summer reading in order to prevent the “summer slide” where children regress due to lack of reading. A student can maintain his or her reading level by reading as few as six books.
During the month of May, Madison presented assemblies to eight different elementary schools, working with the Springville City Library to promote its Super Hero summer reading program. To date, more than 3,000 children have signed up and participated in the weekly events.
As an added incentive to encourage summer reading, Madison has created a “Miss Springville/Mapleton Super Reader” contest. She has teamed up with local businesses to provide prizes to the children ages 8-12 who read throughout the summer. For each book a child reads, they receive a ticket to a drawing for prizes including a bike donated by Schouten Orthodontics.
You can see Miss Springville/Mapleton at the Springville City Library each Tuesday and Wednesday through July. Stop by and enter her reading contest and check out the great activities and programs the library has to offer. You can also follow her journey to improving literacy on Instagram at @missspringvillemapleton.