Lauren Gilliam knows a good book when she reads one.
A fifth-grader, Lauren has participated in the annual Frank Porter Graham Elementary School Readathon since she was in kindergarten. This year, her favorite book is “Love, Stargirl.”
“‘Love, Stargirl’ is about a girl who moves away to place where she doesn’t want to live,” Lauren said. “She meets people who are nice, and now she loves it.”
During the readathon, which functions both to raise money for the school and motivate students to read, students pledge to read 650,000 minutes — about 100 minutes a day per student.
Last year, the students raised more than $14,000 to support the school’s media center, science lab and field trip fund.
Readathon Co-Chairwoman Kathy Irvin said she is optimistic the students will reach their goal.
“Last year the goal was 500,000 minutes, but the kids blew past that and logged around 700,000 minutes,” she said.
Throughout the two-week program, which began Jan. 21, the school brings in local celebrities like ABC-11 News Anchor Amber Rupinta and former UNC basketball player Eric Montross to read to the students.
For Monday night’s “Read with Me Under the Sea” event, Media Specialist Kathryn Cole and several student and staff volunteers transformed the school’s media center into an underwater-themed reading area. The volunteers also brought live animals, including an alligator and a diamondback terrapin, into the school’s science lab for children to interact with.
