Rider Women's Basketball Participates in National Young Readers Week
Rider Sports Information
Lawrenceville, NJ - To be able to read a defense on a basketball court, you first have to know how to read.
That was the message that head coach Lynn Milligan and the Rider University women’s basketball team brought to two elementary schools in Trenton on Thursday, November 13 as part of National Young Readers Week.
The Broncs visited the Cadwalader School and Wilson Elementary, reading to kids in grades K-5.
“Our program encourages academic enrichment,” said Katrina Looby, Director for Education Works in New Jersey. “It is great for the kids to have college students come in and read to them. The fact that the Rider students are scholar athletes presents a great set of role models for our students.”
Set aside as a special day to recognize the joys and benefits of reading, schools recruited local “celebrities” to read aloud a favorite children’s book to their classrooms. Local reading role model “celebrities” included local officials, sports figures, public safety officers, parents, and other guests from the public and private sector.
Schools in the area received grant funding from State Farm Insurance as part of the New Jersey After 3 program to buy over 200 books for the program.
“Having the Rider student-athletes share the importance of reading is a great experience for the kids,” Looby added. “Basketball is their favorite sport and there is a great connection between our kids and the Rider students. They are great role models.”
“It is important for our players to come in and support the schools in the area,” said Milligan. “It gives our players more self awareness of what is around them. Today was a great opportunity for Rider student-athletes to inspire kids to read and do well academically. We have a terrific impact on young kids and this reinforces to the players that they are looked upon as role models in everything that they do, both on and off the court.”
This is the second year under Coach Milligan that the women’s basketball team has participated in the program. In 2006 the Rider baseball team also participated in the program as part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ?MAAC Gives Back’ program and the Rider Athletics Partners in a Caring Community program under the direction of Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Karin Torchia.
“It’s great to give back because I never had this type of program growing up,” said sophomore guard Cintella Spotwood, who hails from Trenton. “We have a great opportunity to show the kids that learning is fun and reading is fun. It was an important message and I think the kids enjoyed having us visit their school. From a team standpoint, I think it helps us become more appreciative of what we have and the opportunities that we have being a student-athlete at Rider.”
“The kids look up to us,” said junior guard Amanda Sepulveda who is from Perth Amboy. “Seeing the successes that we have had gives them hope and faith that a proper education will lead to more opportunities in life. Hopefully what we did today inspires them in the future.”
The Broncs go from reading back to reading defenses when they open up the 2008-09 season against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on November 14.