First- and second-graders at five CPS elementary schools receive more than 2,600 books
Schoolkids outside Benton STEM Elementary School on Wednesday cheered wildly as a University of Missouri Health Care ambulance arrived and TJ hopped out to greet them.
TJ, short for Truman Jr., is the kids' mascot for MU. More precisely, TJ is the mascot for the MU Children's Hospital.
TJ was at the school for Read Across Columbia, a celebration of Heart of Missouri United Way. All first- and second-graders at Benton, Blue Ridge, West, Alpha Hart Lewis and Parkade elementary schools received a book bag containing four books.
That's 650 bags for 650 students and 2,600 books.
The event happened the week after Banned Books Week.
"These are really special books," said Andrew Grabau, president and CEO of Heart of Missouri United Way, to the children, now in the school's media center.
Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Brian Yearwood asked the students how many of them loved to read. All hands shot up.
"That is so, so important for us," Yearwood said. "The more we read, the more we get to learn and understand."
The students will enjoy the books they're receiving, Yearwood said.
"This is critical for the development and growth of our scholars," he said.
Children with books in their homes are better able to learn, said Benton Principal Sara Sicht.
"I want you to look around the room and I want you to find an adult who has helped you to learn to read," Sicht told the students.
She told them to point to the adult, then applaud them.
Katrina Lambrecht, chief operating officer for MU Health Care, read one of the books to the students: "Tu Youyou's Dicovery: Finding a Cure for Malalaria" by Songju Ma Daemicke. Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her 1971 Malaria cure.
At another school, the author of one of the books would read to students, Grabau said.
The effort is a partnership among United Way, CPS and MU Health Care.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Read Across Columbia provides books to 650 first- and second-graders
