Summer reading programs touted a success
Greetings Library family. With summer coming to a close and school days finally upon us, we would like to take this time to thank everyone who participated in or donated to this year’s Summer Reading Program. Compared to last year, we had a 25 percent increase in program registration, totaling to 111 individuals who signed up for either the youth or adult program. Participants in the youth category were asked to turn their reading logs in each Friday after they had calculated the number of books they had read and minutes spent reading; adult participants counted just time spent reading.
The youth program was open this year to kindergarten through seventh grade and each grade had two grand prize winners — Most Books Read and Most Minutes Spent Reading. The adult program however had a first, second and third place prize winner for, what we believe, were fantastic prizes. First place took home a free hotel stay along with movie ticket passes. Though we love giving away the prizes at the end of the program, the key motive for us holding this was to ensure that none of the local children become a victim to the “summer slide.” This is where children, especially ones who already struggle with reading, lose around two grade levels of reading skills over the summer due to discontinuing literacy practice once school is out. Thankfully, that won’t be the case for our participants considering this year we read a total of 100,936 minutes and 1,130 total books read.
We would like to thank everyone who made our 2018 Summer Reading Program possible this year through monetary/nonmonetary donations and service discounts! Thank you to: Combs & White Family Dentistry in Pea Ridge, Arvest Bank of Pea Ridge, Pea Ridge Neighborhood Market, The Friends of the Pea Ridge Community Library, Shane Perry, Pea Ridge Optimist Club, Fred’s in Pea Ridge, Diego’s Mexican Grill in Pea Ridge, Eureka Pizza in Rogers, Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, La Quinta Inn & Suites in Bentonville, Hands on Chiropractic in Pea Ridge, Dave and Buster’s in Rogers, Crepes Paulette in Bentonville, Chick-fil-A in Bentonville, Simple Simons in Pea Ridge, Golf Mountain Mini Golf in Lowell, ACE Hardware in Pea Ridge, Brock Entertainment in Rogers, Extreme Carnival Party in Fayetteville, Crystal’s Face painting in Bella Vista, Bright Futures, Butterstick Bakery (now closed), Pea Ridge Police Department, GY6ix, and all of our employees and volunteers who dedicated long hours to ensure everything went smoothly.
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Editor’s note: Alex Wright is the director of the Pea Ridge Community Library. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. She can be reached at 451-8442.