by Mark Cheffey
Palmyra Elementary School Principal Bridgette Augspurg was hoping students could raise from $4,000 to $5,000 during the school’s two week Read-A-Thon which concluded last week.
She was off by just a little bit.
Top readers in the Palmyra Elementary School Read-A-Thon were (from left) Alexis Lynn, Austee Barnes, Emma Thornburg, Kaylee Johnson and Avery Powell.
Instead, the students raised a whopping $11,182 while also showing a growing interest in reading.
“I’m just overwhelmed by the support from the community,” Augspurg said. “It was family and friends making donations. But it was also obvious they value reading.”
Augspurg said the school will get to keep about $9,000 of the amount raised and it will be earmarked for school celebrations and assemblies.
“But what was even better was seeing how the kids got excited about reading,” Augspurg said.
All told 266 students participated in the read-a-thon, logging 24,636 minutes of reading, both at school and at home. A total of 410 people made donations.
Earning top honors for total minutes reading were fourth graders Alexis Lynn, Austee Barnes, Emma Thornburg and Kaylee Johnson and third grader, Avery Powell.
“It was exciting going home and family donating, even family not living here,” said Thornburg.
The contest motived the students to read as many books as they could, including new ones.
“Some books I hadn’t read before, and it was exciting to see what would happen,” Lynn said.
With the success of the first one, Augspurg said plans are to continue the event in the future.
