Reading program was a great success

To The Eagle:

On behalf of the Kiwanis Club I would like to say last night’s “Reading is Family Fun” program was a big success.

I will let someone else suggest the exact number in attendance, but I was impressed by the large number of children, and equally impressive was the number of mothers and fathers in attendance.

While there were some difficulties with the audio in the auditorium, it didn't totally distract from our guest speaker’s ability to make a few points as to the importance of reading and reading skills, and captivate the young people for a while as she read and discussed a few stories with them.

Our guest speaker, Jacquelyn Keith, through her affiliation with the Vancouver library system, was able to provide a large number for free and very good books to children of all age groups. As there were a lot of books, my children were able to take home possibly 3-4 books. Then the school, I believe, provided summary type posters on a large variety of topics and of interest to children; these were gobbled-up too.

There are many people to thank for their work and interest in this reading program. We as a community are fortunate to have Connie Christopher and Toni Hardy who are so interested in reading, helping young people to improve their reading skills and promote use of the library.

We all realize there are many challenges in the school system today, budgets, facilities and equipment--the audio system, but most importantly the self-motivation, people skills, knowledge and commitment of our teachers. Again, there were many people instrumental in having this successful reading program, but Stephanie Leitz is an amazing person and teacher. You and our school system are fortunate to have Stephanie, and it is people like Stephanie that know how to overcome any physical and financial obstacles that make a huge difference in helping students learn and get ahead.

In a similar note, thanks goes to MaryAnn Nelson for her work with St. James Family Center and helping families and children attend the event and improvement of children’s reading skills.

There is a follow up to this reading program planned for mid-September. Hopefully Kiwanis can help again the next year with a reading program for our youth.

It is a great evening.

Dennis T. Gordon

Puget Island