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Sept. 5, 2006 issue
EMU Jumpstart program sets world record for reading


By Ward Mullens

 

Eastern Michigan University student volunteers have helped set a world record for reading.

Approximately 17 students from EMU read "The Little Engine That Could" to about 160 local elementary school children at several locations in Ypsilanti Aug. 24. It was part of the Jumpstart Program's Read for the Record nationwide effort to read the same book to a record number of kids at the same time.

Jumstart logo

RECORD READERS:
Approximately 17 EMU students
read "The Little Engine That
Could" to about 160 local
elementary school children at
several locations in Ypsilanti
Aug. 24. It was part of the
Jumpstart program's "Read for

the Record" nationwide.

About 150,000 pre-registered for the national event, which was designed to bring attention and interest to improving literary and language skills.

"Early learning experiences are crucial to the growth and development of young children," said Christie Cadmus, program coordinator at Eastern Michigan University. "Jumpstart's 'Read for the Record' provides opportunities for everyone in the United States to support quality early education and to engage in the powerful learning experiences that Jumpstart models in its classrooms every day."

Local sponsors included Starbucks Arborland, the Briarwood Mall, 826 Michigan, Dorothy's Discovery Center, Adventure Center and the Pinckney Community Library.

Jumpstart is a national early education organization that works toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Through extraordinary attention in yearlong one-to-one relationships, Jumpstart inspires children to learn, adults to teach, families to get involved and communities to progress together. Headquartered in Boston, Jumpstart pairs 2,500 trained adults one-to-one with preschool children in need of assistance. During the 2005-2006 program year, Jumpstart served 10,000 children in 60 communities across 22 states, in partnership with 225 Head Start and other early learning centers across the country.

Cadmus said that about 60,000 books have been given out this year nationwide.

For more information, visit the Jumpstart Web site at www.jstart.org .  For more information about Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign, visit www.readfortherecord.org