[StBernard] Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard-Arabi sponsors book program for students

[Westley Annis]

Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard-Arabi sponsors book program for students

Print NOLA Community Submission By NOLA Community Submission 
on May 14, 2014 at 9:05 AM, updated May 14, 2014 at 9:19 AM

The Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard-Arabi, a community service organization dedicated to improving the lives of children, sponsored a field trip May 7  for 13 third- and fourth-grade readers at Willie Smith Elementary School.  

The field trip was the culmination of an incentive program aimed at encouraging students to improve their reading scores and demonstrating the value of reading beyond the classroom.  Each month, while eating pizza or chicken fingers, students with improving scores listened to their Kiwanis sponsors read from their favorite books, recipes, magazines, and even joke books.

The children recently took a field trip to Barnes & Noble to choose their own books, which the Kiwanis Club purchased for them to take home.  

This program is spearheaded by past Kiwanis Club presidents and local residents, Anthony Cole and Polly Campbell.

"Our club believes that reading is the cornerstone of the entire educational system, and better readers make better students," said Cole.  "The children selected for this field trip improved their readings scores every month throughout the school year which we believe will also show in their standardized testing scores," said Campbell.

The Kiwanis Club believes that better readers and better students make a better community, which is why the group support the school system's efforts, Campbell said.

The Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard-Arabi meets each Tuesday at noon at Rocky and Carlo's Restaurant, 613 W. St. Bernard Highway, Chalmette.

For more information about this project and others or for membership info, visit www.stbernardkiwanis.org.​​