CAITLIN WHITE
Staff Writer
Pepperdine’s second annual speed reading competition, an event that raises money to buy books for low-income children, will take place today in the Waves Café. The event is another way for teams competing in the race for the Homecoming Spirit Cup to earn points.
The Speed Read will be held in conjunction with the international organization First Books. Founded in 1992, First Books is a non-profit company with one mission, “to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.”
Coordinator and founder of the event, junior Sara Ashmore is excited to have it included in Pepperdine’s Homecoming celebrations. “It’s a way for people to be involved in Homecoming and support a great cause,” she said.
Last year, faculty competitors were an added twist. They included President Andrew K. Benton, university Church of Christ minister Ken Durham and the Dean of Seaver College David Baird.
The speed reading competition will feature seven teams total. Gamma Phi Beta, Beta Theta Pi and Kappa Kappa Gamma are a team. Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi will be a second; Kappa Alpha Theta and Sigma Chi are paired up. Pi Beta Phi, Psi U and Tri Delta will make another team, and Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Gamma will be the last sorority/fraternity combination team. The Latino Student Association and PASA will be a team, and finally Women’s Soccer and Men’s Volleyball will join forces.
For the competition, each team will choose three readers. The first representative from each team will try to read as many words as they can out of Dr. Seuss’s celebrated “Green Eggs & Ham.” After each reader has gone, the number of words each one accrued will be added together for a team total. The two teams with the highest totals will have a head to head match, with each team choosing their fastest reader. Whichever team wins that challenge will be declared the winner of the Speed Read, and will earn points for their team toward the Spirit Cup.
“Last year we raised about $500, which is equal to about 200 books, but we’re hoping to exceed that this year,” Ashmore said. She hopes the inclusion of the Speed Read in the Homecoming activities will generate more awareness. “We want to reach out to alumni too, and encourage them to get involved.”
Ashmore said that in addition to attending the event to support the cause, there is an online donation site, where a donor can pick the team that he or she wants to sponsor.
Ashmore was first inspired to start the event after seeing the success her mother, Jan Ashmore who started the organization “Study Buddies” in 2002. Directed toward transient children who live in subsidized housing or even motels, Study Buddies is an after-school program located in Claremont that offers such children homework help, a decent meal and just a place to go.
The books purchased from the funds that the Speed Read makes will be split between Jumpstart and Study Buddies.
“The great thing about this event is that all the proceeds really go directly to the kids,” Ashmore said. “It’s a fun and easy way to get involved and help.”
Freshman Justine Butler, a Jumpstart corps member and volunteer for the event shares her motivation for helping.
“It’s nice to help the kids academic wise, and it’s even nicer to see the joy on their faces when people take the time to teach them, to be in their lives. They don’t receive that very often, [and it’s] rewarding to see them enjoying that,” Butler said.
Freshman Elizabeth Dillon will be contending for the Pi Phis. “When I was younger, I had a severe reading disability, so I’m excited to help in an event that supports something I had trouble with myself.”
Students from Webster Elementary School in Malibu will be attending the event as well and demonstrate their own ability to speed read.
Also, representatives from both Study Buddies and Jumpstart will share their experiences with spreading literacy to low-income children.
“When you give a child a book, you see their face just light up to have something that is truly their own,” Ashmore said. “This really is an important issue, because it impacts their future. Studies have proven that having books at home help kids learn more. And when we impact their future, we’re impacting our own, too, because they are the future.”
02-15-2007
