"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go." – Dr. Seuss

Kristina Boyce

Index | Archive

Above is one of my favorite quotes from the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, The Places You’ll Go!" Dr. Seuss has been a big part of all of our lives as he spent his life encouraging kids and adults to view reading as fun. He wrote books that taught valuable lessons and were exciting to read.  

On Friday, March 2, the nation celebrated Dr. Seuss’s 108th birthday and Read Across America Day. NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that encourages every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2. Schools all over the country were celebrating in different ways with reading parties, Dr. Seuss theme days or celebrity readers participating in the day by reading to students.

Our organization was able to help celebrate the importance of reading by sending Patrick Dwyer to Kingswood Elementary to read to 60 first-grade students. Patrick read one of Dr. Seuss’s books, "Happy Birthday to You!" The students laughed at the silly parts and listened intently to the lesson that was shared. 

One of the lines in the book really stuck out to me as he was reading to the young students. Dr. Seuss wrote, "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." It was heart-warming to see a professional athlete reading a book that was entertaining yet taught a lesson about how important it is to love yourself since you are the only you!

Stormy, our beloved mascot, was also out in the community at four elementary schools in Wake County last week promoting Read Across America. Stormy’s favorite book is "Where the Wild Things Are." Stormy acted out the book while a promotions team member read the story. 

Supporting the North Carolina School System is a priority for the Carolina Hurricanes. We have our own reading initiative called Pick Up a Book and Read. Hurricanes alternate captain Brandon Sutter is the spokesperson for the program. Through the Pick Up A Book and Read initiative, the Carolina Hurricanes are supporting and assisting teachers’ educational efforts in the classroom. The program this year lasted for any six-week span between Nov. 7, 2011 and Feb. 17, 2012. 

All participating students receive a Carolina Hurricanes certificate, the top grade readers at each school receive four tickets to a Hurricanes game, the overall top reader from each grade will receive a Carolina Hurricanes jersey and the top three schools will receive an assembly at their school with Stormy.
 
For more information on Pick Up a Book and Read, please click here.

Thank you to Dr. Seuss, Patrick Dwyer, Stormy and teachers all over the nation for inspiring us to read!

Subscribe | Comment | Contact Previous | Next