First-Graders treated to Gift of Literacy celebration

First graders from all across Coos County and Reedsport were greeted with a standing ovation of claps and cheers as they stepped out of their school buses into the Southwestern Community College recreation center.

The festive celebration on Tuesday, April 30, was an event put together to foster the love of reading among young children.

“I’ve never seen a disappointed kid, and some of them are star struck right now,” said Coos Bay-North Bend Rotarian Rodney Stalcup.

It is the seventh-year the Rotary Clubs and school districts of North Bend, Coos Bay, Reedsport, Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point and Powers have come together – along with South Coast Education Service District (ESD), and Southwestern Oregon Community College – to help children on the South Coast get excited about books with the Gift of Literacy Program.

“It is important. Literacy is huge - for education, for career paths – and it opens up their eyes to more in the world,” Stalcup said.

Once the first-grade classes sat down, spread throughout the open recreation center, they were treated to introductions by special guests, and a play put on by young actors and actresses from the Little Theater on the Bay. After that, volunteers sat down with each class and read them book. At the end, each student got to open their own cinch bag filled with fun swag and two brand-new books.

It was the first field trip for many of the young students, and they got a glimpse of what college life might be like for them one day.

“The younger they come and feel comfortable in a college setting, the more likely they will feel comfortable going on and tying literacy into their careers,” said Southwestern President and local Rotarian Dr. Patty M. Scott, who helped organize the event.