EARTH DAY: Saving and sustaining our blue planet the focus of celebrations around the metro area P14
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April 19, 2018
ELBERT COUNTY, COLORADO
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‘Stampede to Read’ helps kids get a charge out of literacy Rodeo ticket is prize for young people who spend required time with books BY JULIE A. TAYLOR SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
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magine horses, bulls, sheep and pigs suddenly rushing toward a common thing. Now replace those animals with 400 kids, rushing toward books. This is the effect that Stampede to Read has on kids in the area. Starting in 2009, the program was formed as an education incentive, spurring young students to read a certain amount of time each day to gain a free ticket to the Elizabeth Stampede. Preschool and elementary kids log their minutes, and get trinkets with each finished sheet. After four sheets are filled out, they achieve their ultimate goal: the rodeo ticket. “Going out to these schools and seeing these couple thousand bright shiny faces, everyone’s worried about the future, but heck, I’m not. They’re bright, eager to learn,” said Jace Glick, Elizabeth Stampede’s president. “It’s a unique and beautiful opportunity to have a positive impact on those young people.” To get the students excited about the program, a team from the rodeo, including this year’s crowned nobility, rolled into the school full of energy and information. The rodeo clown, J.W. Winklepleck, popped in with a lariat rope, and showed the kids how to
Elizabeth Stampede rodeo clown J.W. Winklepleck pretends to be a calf for the kids to catch at a Stampede to Read assembly. lasso a calf — he became the calf. “He talks about the importance of reading, everyone mentions reading, and brings in different rodeo equipment, like ropes the bull riders use,” said Carol Williams, the Stampede’s community relations committee vice chair. “Then he gets audience presentation. He was the calf that got caught and fell down on the floor and flung his feet around. He’s amazing.”
The students leave the assembly with gusto and packets for their parents. Last year a total of 1,600 children signed up for the program. Elizabeth Stampede gave free entry to 400 kids, and Williams said that number always increases. This year’s numbers are not in yet, but the team held rallies at Legend Academy, Running Creek, Singing Hills, Franktown and Elbert Elementary Schools. This year’s Elizabeth Stam-
pede is scheduled for May 31 through June 3 at Casey Jones Park. The students should be about halfway through their challenge right now. Their teachers keep a stack of blank and filled-out reading logs. Younger kids have a goal of two hours per week, while older kids need to read for four hours. All of the reading has to be done outside school hours, but many children are assigned reading minutes as
part of their nightly homework, which counts toward the program. The tiniest participants lean on parents to check off their nightly reading time. “One year I heard there was this younger student,” Williams said. “They were so wanting to get this done and earn their rodeo ticket that when they got home with mom and dad after day care, SEE READ, P19
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
“I have met others for lunch who were ‘out to lunch.’ On the phone all the time, and our conversations were clipped and compromised.” Craig Marshall Smith | columnist, Page 12 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 10
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VOLUME 123 | ISSUE 12