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MURRAY — During the summer months, children can forget a lot of what they learned in school. But not the children involved in the Summer Literacy Program at the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley. They have collectively read over 22,000 minutes this summer.
To celebrate this major accomplishment, the kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Murray, at 244 E. Myrtle (5065 South), took over the playground Thursday for one last read-a-thon. Books, they say, provide great adventures and reading has made them winners.
"I feel great about it because reading is just great," said Heather Solomon. "It takes you on lots of adventures, and I think reading should be at the top of the line instead of TV."
Rewarded with new reading bags, they will return to classes with a belief that they can graduate from not only high school but college.
"Reading in the summer has helped me in school a lot," said 7th-grader Jared Delon, "so I can't forget a lot of stuff and so I can remember."
A National Summer Learning Association Study shows that children who have not read during the summer have low test scores when they return to school; for some, this continues far into the school year.
"There have been studies proving that if they read during the summer that it definitely helps with their learning experience and math and English and language skills," Bob Dunn, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley explained.
The staff members say they want to provide these children, many of them at-risk, with every opportunity possible. "They do an awful lot of educational things," Lynn Pett with the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley. "It's a staff that's outstanding."
Final words of advice from these youngsters leading the way. "Keep on reading, people," Solomon said.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley has received a challenge grant from the Eccles Foundation to maximize donations. The clubs hope to raise $105,000 in new private funding commitments from corporations, individuals and other foundations in order to meet the challenge by Oct. 1. For information to programs or to donate, go to www.bgcsv.org/.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
