A Literacy Event

Every year Pi Beta Phi hosts an event called C.A.R.. It is a literacy even that consists of different groups of girls selected in Pi Phi to go and read to different elementary schools in the community. The grades that are selected mainly stay in the second and third grade range and a various number of classes for the girls to go to are selected. Pi Beta Phi’s Vice President of Philanthropy arranges this function every year along with other events related to literacy. That chair for this year is a young lady by the name of Jessica Caldwell.

“It’s one of our biggest events of the year and this year was the best turn out in a long time. A lot of the kids connect with us and that helps them really understand how important literacy is in your life and how far it can take you when you get older” says Jessica Caldwell. After about a month the sessions come to an end and the following week there is a literacy carnival held at the Pi Phi house. This year it consisted of face painting, scrabble, a speed-read, food, and many other fun activities that the second and third graders enjoy.

A speed-read is when ten or so kids are timed at how fast they can read. When the timed session is over the words are counted and the winner receives a prize. One of the participant at this function, Melissa Blasingam commented, “There was the largest turn out of kids that came to the carnival in years and everyone looked like they were having a great time, even the parents. I really enjoyed participating this year and I definitely want to do it again next year”.

The more tools a child is given to work with in the early years of school helps them create a sturdy school habit that will last all of their school years. This program is just one of the tools the kids have to help create a fun academic environment and that is one of the main goals of this program.