90,000 Students Across all 50 States Read for 17.8 Million Minutes during NFL Super Bowl Champion Malcolm Mitchell's READBowl National Reading Competition
ATLANTA, Feb. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 90,000 students in classrooms across all 50 states read for a combined 17.8 million minutes over four weeks during the READBowl 2019 National Reading Competition led by Read with Malcolm, the youth literacy initiative of NFL Super Bowl Champion and author Malcolm Mitchell and his nonprofit, Share the Magic Foundation.
READBowl, a free national reading competition for K-8 Classrooms and established after-school programs, kicked off on January 7, the day of the College Football National Championship Game, and ran through February 1. Mitchell announced the winners – The National Champions of Reading – on Super Bowl Sunday. State champions were also announced on Read with Malcolm's website.
"READBowl brought a nation of students and teachers together around a love of reading," said Mitchell. "Every student who participated is a true champion. I appreciate each individual student's effort to read and am incredibly proud that together, 17.8 million minutes of reading were accomplished. The bar is set high for READBowl 2020."
More than 3,700 classes were provided a big-game atmosphere and virtual connection to Mitchell, with a goal to inspire students to increase daily in-school reading minutes through the friendly classroom-based competition.
While Mitchell struggled to read as a child, athletics provided a path to higher education. He became one of the top wide receivers in the University of Georgia's history. In 2016, he was drafted by the New England Patriots; and during his rookie year, he played a crucial role in the Patriot's historic overtime comeback win in Super Bowl 51. In addition to success on the field, Mitchell is the author of "The Magician's Hat" and is now working on his second children's book with Scholastic Publishing.
Mitchell founded Share the Magic Foundation to inspire students to read through book ownership. The Foundation's Read with Malcolm literacy initiatives include in-school and afterschool programs, along with national reading challenges like READBowl. Working with schools and organizations to inspire positive attitudes toward reading, especially among below grade-level readers, Read with Malcolm literacy initiatives have now reached more than 145,000 young readers nationally since 2016.
Media Contact: John Zoccola / [email protected]
SOURCE Share The Magic Foundation
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