MOULTRIE, Ga – Stringfellow Elementary students expressed their love for reading during the Literacy Rocket Launch Party on Friday, Sept. 2.

The literary kickoff event was held with the help of the Moultrie Lions Club and the Colquitt County Association of Educators to get students excited about reading and engaged in activities that support reading.

The event followed Stringfellow Elementary’s 2022 theme, “Reach for the Stars: Launching off the Love of Literacy and Reading.”

Stringfellow Elementary School Principal Brian Knighton explained to students the importance of reading.

“This year, literacy is one of our major focuses. [We want] to help cultivate, foster and create a culture for the love of reading within our students,” Knighton announced to the students. “Reading is so important. It is one of the most fundamental skills that you need to survive in life.” 

He also announced that all 289 Stringfellow students who attend school on Fridays will receive a book to take home. This initiative is in partnership with First Book.

First Book is a nonprofit that believes that education is the best way out of poverty for children in need, according to the organization’s website.

It states, “They provide books and other resources to classrooms and programs serving children in need, from birth to age 18, in order to remove barriers to quality education for all kids.”

Teachers encouraged students to read for at least 30 minutes at home with the books they receive.

As a part of the Literacy Launch, Michele Croft, Stringfellow’s media specialist, recently applied for a Bright Ideas Grant funded by Colquitt Electric Membership Corporation.

Knighton announced to Croft and the attendees that she was awarded the grant.

He said, “This grant is for creating a live display and habitat for students in the media center.”

The event continued with games led by Stringfellow teachers, faculty and staff to demonstrate how essential reading is in fun activities.

After the gym assembly, the Stringfellow students, faculty and staff went outside, where they lined up in the form of the school initials, J.R.S., to take an aerial photo with a drone.

Representatives across the Colquitt County School District attended the event including CCSD Superintendent Ben Wiggins, Board of Education member Trudie Hill of District 1 and Kristyn Nelms, the G.E.A.R. site director.

The Literacy Rocket Launch Party concluded with 14 rockets being launched on the campus front yard as students chanted, “I love to read books!”