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“Readers Become Leaders” Literacy Program Rewards Fort Worth ISD Top Elementary Readers with Trip to NCAA Gymnastics Championship

Fort Worth, Texas – The top Fort Worth ISD readers in a new elementary literacy program will attend Open Practice for teams at the National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championship April 18 as part of the program’s finale. The winning FWISD campus will receive its own championship trophy at the event.

The 2019 Championships will take place at the Fort Worth Convention Center April 19 and 20. ESPN will televise all events on both days.

Fort Worth ISD has partnered with the NCAA, Scholastic, Read Fort Worth and Visit Fort Worth to implement Readers Become Leaders into the District’s elementary schools. More than 15,000 students from 37 schools have completed the first round of the contest and logged more than 3,000,000 million total reading minutes.

NCAA’s Team Works division sponsors Readers Become Leaders to help address the literacy problem facing the nation’s youth. Readers Become Leaders encourages students in kindergarten through fifth grade to read by creating a fun environment where they can compete against other schools. Students win prizes that may include NCAA items, pizza parties, and tickets to NCAA events.

The top three teams at the end of the program will attend the Open Practice for teams at the National College Women’s Gymnastics Championship. Readers Become Leaders will recognize campuses with the highest average reading minutes per student and announce the overall winner.

Readers Become Leaders supports 100 X 25FWTX, the District’s early literacy initiative with a goal to ensure 100 percent of third-grade students are reading at or above grade level by the year 2025. 100 X 25FWTX will ensure all children in Fort Worth are prepared for college, career and community leadership.

Superintendent Kent P. Scribner is partnering with Mayor Betsy Price, BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose to lead the community-wide Read Fort Worth initiative. Anel Mercado serves as the executive director. This cradle-to-career strategy puts childhood literacy front and center and aligns the resources of the Fort Worth ISD with the city’s business sector, city leaders, higher education, nonprofit organizations, the faith-based community as well as educators and parents. Childhood literacy can determine success in all subjects for years to come, including math and science.

The 2019 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships selected Fort Worth as the host city after a successful bid process spearheaded by Visit Fort Worth, Texas Woman’s University and the Knight Eady Sports Group. Fort Worth will host the event through 2022 with the final three years hosted at the new Dickies Arena.

The Championship will feature the eight top Division I gymnastics programs competing in two semi-final events at noon and 6 p.m., Friday, April 19, with the Championship set to take place at 6 p.m., Saturday, April 20.

-FWISD-