CheeReaders was created by Hannah McRae Young to encourage young children to pick up a book and read. Entering her college years, Hannah realized she didn't have enough time needed to maintain and grow the program. So Varsity jumped in to help manage it!
Read about Hannah McRae Young:
When I was a little kid, I either had my nose in a book or was in a gym tumbling. I tried soccer for a little while, but soon discovered two things. First, I have no talent in sports involving balls. Secondly, I needed a sport that didn't require shoes. Soccer cleats were just too uncomfortable for my picky little feet.
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Hannah and her sisters,
Marlee |
Gymnastics led to competitive
cheerleading at Cheer Extreme
Allstars - Kernersville
(www.cheerextreme.com) and a way to increase my skills first with my middle school squad. That paved the way to high school cheerleading at East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Even though I was cheering or tumbling most days, I still found time to read. We always have a plentiful supply of books because of my mom's job
as a children's book reviewer for the Winston-Salem Journal. I joined my mom in writing the column, changing "Young Reading" to "Young Reading with Monica & Hannah Young" (http://nie.journalnow.com) in summer 2008. It wasn't much of a change because I had been recommending books to put in the column since she started writing it three years earlier.
We can't even calculate how many books arrive at our house each month. There isn't enough room to keep all of them so we donate books to schools in our area. As a freshman, I was looking for a service project to take me through my years of high school that would be meaningful and connected to my interests. CheeReaders was born.
Through much experimentation, we have discovered that the program works best for grades kindergarten through second; and reading one-on-one with an individual child is the best method. Reading to special needs classes is very touching, a time when reading to a group works well. The kids get very excited when their very own cheerleader will be coming to read with them. Most are shy at first, but warm up quickly when they get to shake pom pons or get into the story being read.
Some curious classmates will even approach the CheeReader and the student, asking questions about the book or the cheerleader. One time I was put on the spot to do a cheer for an entire class. I quickly modified the chant "Pick It Up" to "Read It Up." They loved it even with my mistakes!
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