Prexie players read to second-graders
Washington football coach Mike Bosnic holds the microphone for Kurt Adkins as he reads “The Hog Mollies and the Big Birthday Bash.”
A page of the book shows a moral lesson unfolding in a game of putt-putt during a birthday party.
Jordan West holds up the book for an audience of second-graders at Washington Park Elementary School Friday morning.
Undefeated on the field as of Friday morning, Wash High Prexies senior football players and coaches told an auditorium of second-graders that the key to victory anywhere is literacy.
Before taking turns reading parts of “The Hog Mollies and the Big Birthday Bash” to 110 students at Washington Park Elementary, the seniors and coaches shared stories of their favorite books and life lessons from more than a decade of education in the school system.
“It doesn’t matter what sports or activities you do. We have a girl kicker on our team,” said assistant coach Lance Vallee, referring to freshman kicker Lilly Christy. “You need your education – strong reading skills – to get you the grades and those opportunities, and it doesn’t matter who you are. Lilly proves that.”
“Both my children sat in these very auditorium seats and went on to college because of their interest in reading and their literacy skills,” Vallee said.
Head coach Mike Bosnic credits Vallee with piloting the Ohio State University literacy program “2nd & 7” in the Washington school system.
Bosnic, also a teacher at the high school, said the team and district will look to expand and improve upon the mentorship program in the future.
“We’re just excited to have our athletes giving back to the younger members in our community by showing leadership and raising awareness for literacy skills,” Bosnic said.
Before running back Kurt Adkins began reading to the group, he talked about his favorite books and examples of literacy in action.
“My favorite book is ‘Lord of the Flies,’ but I mean, remember, you need to read to do a lot of things. You can’t even play video games if you don’t have good comprehension skills,” Adkins said.
Defensive end Blake Smith said his favorite book, “The Alchemist,” is a Portuguese novel about destiny.
“I read that in an advanced class, and I hope you get to read it at some point, too. Reading is central to your education and keeping your grade point average up, and ultimately that plays into whether you can play sports or not,” Smith said.
“We’re having a great year as a team. But these guys are also pulling in their grades,” Bosnic said. “We check every week whether they’re up to speed on homework and their grades are up, and if they’re down, they don’t play.”