COMMENTARY: Har-Ber Tackles Reading
WOOD INSTRUCTS PLAYERS TO TAKE PROGRAM SERIOUSLY
Monday, November 23, 2009
Yesenia Facundo, middle, holds a Wildcats sign as she sits with classmates Halle Roberts, right, and Emily Kemp, left, during the Springdale Har-Ber High School pep rally Friday in Wildcat Gym. Students from Bernice Young Elementary school in grades three through five who met their reading goal were able to attend the rally.
Photo by Sarah Bentham
SPRINGDALE — They sat in alternating rows at the Springdale Har-Ber pep rally last Friday afternoon in Wildcat Arena: football players intertwined with 250 students from Bernice Young Elementary.
And their budding friendship was hard to miss. They chatted. They smiled. They high-fived. They even jumped up and down together at the end of the rally, yelling out the chant, “Do it, do it, do it, go-go-go!”
After all, these high school athletes and grade school students were seeing one another for the fifth time in the last few months. The first four meetings helped the Young Elementary kids meet their reading goals, and, in turn, let the eager youngsters earn a late-morning trip to Wildcat Arena.
This is the type of thing we don’t hear often enough about our community’s student-athletes.
Later that night, the Wildcats pummeled Russellville 30-7 in the Class 7A playoffs, advancing to within two wins of a state title. But Har-Ber coach Chris Wood insists his players approach their reading treks down the street to Young Elementary as seriously as their Friday night battles.
“They just love it,” Wood said after the pep rally, grinning as he watched his players interacting with their pupils. “They’re always asking me, ‘When’s the next time we’re going?’”
The outreach program became reality after a summer conversation between junior linebacker Hunter Kissinger and his cousin, Kaci Phipps.
Phipps is an instructional facilitator at Young Elementary, in charge of raising literacy and math scores. And her eyes lit up when Kissinger mentioned how much he enjoyed the Har-Ber student council’s trips to read at grade schools last year.
Kissinger just knew the football team would jump at the chance to spend time mentoring and reading to grade-school students. He encouraged Phipps to speak with Wood, and Phipps called. They quickly agreed to set up a schedule for 45-minute visits.
“I’m sure the players might not understand how much of an impact they’re making,” Phipps said. “But the kids get so excited about them coming to the school, and it’s really helped them with their goals.”
Phipps said all of the students who attended the pep rally set and met reading goals, and she gave credit to the football players for inspiring them. Each player read to students in the same class on each visit, motivating the kids and allowing a bond to form.
Jordan Leake, an 8-year-old second-grader, said the players compelled him to read “Captain Underpants” and “Otherwise Known As Sheila The Great” faster than he thought he could.
Kennedy Kissinger, an 11-year-old fifth-grader and Hunter’s sister, said she liked when the players read from her favorite genre: “Funny fiction.”
Time is also reserved for students to ask the players questions. Any questions at all, obviously, as exemplified by 9-year-old fifth-grader Caroline Rhodes. She rarely wants to ask any reading questions. Instead, she hopes to find out what kind of a player she has reading to her group.
“I always ask, ‘Have you made a touchdown?’” Rhodes said Friday with a giggle.
The program culminated last week with the team traveling to Young Elementary and issuing “admission tickets” for Friday’s pep rally. Wood gave advice to the students and said he looked forward to seeing them the next day.
The students showed their appreciation by making cookies for the team and putting pictures of them reading up on a wall at their school. And, of course, by giving plenty of hand-slaps and hugs to their heroes during the pep rally.
RYAN MALASHOCK IS A NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS SPORTS WRITER. HIS COLUMN APPEARS EACH MONDAY.
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