The Mount Laurel Fire Department and the township library again hosted the annual Fired Up For Literacy program to encourage reading by students in grades one through four during their winter break.
The literacy program was developed by former Fire Chief Christopher Burnett in 2009 for just that purpose: to promote reading. The top four winners per school – one student from each grade – are those who accumulate the most minutes of reading time during the break. This year’s contest began in late December and continues through this month.
One grand-prize winner is randomly selected from each school to ride on a fire truck, and each student who participates gets a certificate and a fire department-embroidered backpack courtesy of Target on Centerton Road.
Since its founding, Fired Up For Literacy has had more than 1,300 participants read for approximately 700,000 minutes. This year’s effort resulted in 102 registrants, with 49,482 minutes read.
The top winners in each school are as follows in bold type:
Fleetwood School: Rishita Bhat, Hailey Trout, Bryson Randolph, Samuel Lanka
Larchmont School: Satvik Kataria, Amaya Dalsky, Aria Hartman, Chase Leon
Springville School: Claire Eleazar
Parkway School: Dylan Fichter
Countryside School: Sri Senthil, Jay Boypati, Marc Reeves, Eden Kline
Hillside School, Ahan Aturi, Pushpanjali Birader, Naya Kalisaran, Luke Mansolino
Fire Chief Alan Pine expressed his department’s gratitude in partnering with the library to host the program and commended the participating students.
“We’re thrilled to be able to partner with the Mount Laurel schools and the Mount Laurel library for the Get Fired Up For Literacy Program again this year,” the chief remarked. “Our students amassed an amazing 824 hours spent reading through their holiday breaks, and we can’t wait to help the winners celebrate their achievements with their classmates.
“Our firefighters look forward to this event each year when we get to give students a ride to school in a fire truck and to share in such a unique experience.”
Pine also cited the Target store for its continued support in donating backpacks annually for the program’s winners.
“We also certainly appreciate our relationship with Target in Centerton Square and their continued support,” he noted. “Through the course of our program stretching 15 years, we estimate their donation at approximately 300 backpacks and counting.”
For more information on the program, visit www.mlfd.org/get-fired-up-for-literacy.
