This year, Scott County Schools started a new reading initiative program called the Warhawk Readers Program which pairs a beginning reader with a Great Crossing High School athlete. This program is designed to help elementary students that attend Garth, Lemons Mill, Southern Stamping Ground and Western Elementaries since they are the feeder schools for GCHS. The goal of this new program is to create positive interactions between Warhawk student athletes and students at elementary schools, while encouraging a love of reading.
The program will operate with five groups of approximately fifteen Warhawk mentors and they will visit elementary schools once a month from November through April. Mentors were nominated for participation by coaches. GCHS athletic director Austin Haywood said, “We wanted coaches to nominate athletes with leadership capabilities and the personality to positively interact with those elementary aged kids.”
Each elementary school participating in this program will run it a little differently. Haywood said “We’ve gathered a lot of positive feedback, and each school sees this program working a little differently in their school. Some schools wanted readers for their library, others wanted us to visit with their students during lunch, and some wanted us to visit classrooms. We’ve worked with each school to communicate our plan upon arriving at their school.”
Junior Olivia Noffsinger, a soccer player for the GCHS, is participating in the program. Noffsinger said “I hope to be able to encourage young kids to see that there is so much more to life than what they see now, while also showing them that they can go anything that they put their mind to.”
Junior football player Clayton Shaddix is also a mentor in the program. Shaddix said “My favorite part was just hanging out with the kids and playing games with them like basketball and catch.”
Shaddix said “I feel good knowing I’m a role model to younger kids, because they will view high schoolers more positively and be comfortable around us.”
Great Crossing is excited to start this new program and to see how it can grow throughout this school year. Haywood said, “We find a ton of value in creating positive relationships between Great Crossing High School and elementary schools throughout the district. We’re excited to see how it goes and what else we can do in the future!”
