On Tuesday, November 24, third graders from Charles Campagne, Kramer Lane and Central Boulevard came to visit the high school for an event known as “Read to Achieve.”

Read to Achieve is a program run by the NBA, the goal of which is to create a lifelong love of reading in young children. About 50 million children get involved making this program one of the biggest educational outreach programs in professional sports history. All 29 NBA teams, 16 WNBA teams, eight teams from NBA’s new minor league team, and parents and wives of the players all support the program, which encourages children–as well as adults–to read.

Captains from all BHS sports teams gathered together and introduced themselves to the third graders and their teachers, speaking their names and revealing their favorite books. The most popular book title was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Throughout the whole experience, all of the student-athletes emphasized the importance of reading. Joe Tierney, captain of the soccer team, took the floor and spoke to the students about how reading a little bit every day builds up vocabulary.

Joe also spoke about a book that the third graders received: “to this day, I still have the book you are going to receive–and I’m even going to bring that book with me to college at Marist next fall.”

Volleyball captain Laura Russo said, “I think Read to Achieve is fun. I remember coming to the high school when I was in third grade. I also think it’s a good way for kids to learn the importance of reading through activities that are amusing and make reading fun.”