Read to Succeed Winners

Practice assemblies for end of term prizegivings are great fun. You get to practice singing the National Anthem (several times until you have done it to the satisfaction of the teachers at the front). You practice standing up and sitting down (without talking and fidgetting). The lucky ones practice receiving certificates and the audience practice applauding.

I know all this because I was up at Mahurangi College today surprising the winners of Rodney Libraries Teen Reading Challenge "Read to Succeed" at lunchtime. Read to Succeed was aimed at Year 9 to 13 students and rolled out through the libraries and schools to encourage them to read (which they have to do anyway to gain NCEA credits). We had really positive feedback from the schools so I was looking forward to this part of the job. Luckily for the Year 9 students, there was only half an hour to work through all of the above, so they didn't have to listen to me talking for very long.

And the winners are (drum roll please):

First Place - Franca Bauer - Year 9 at Mahurangi College

Second Place - Jessica Searle - also Year 9 at Mahurangi College

Third Place - Justine Waterson - Year 11 at Kaipara College

Thank you to Dick Smith Electronics at Warkworth for helping with the iPODs and MP3 players that were the prizes and to the Rodney District Council Youth Strategy Team who came on board to help us with this Challenge. Big congratulations to the winners. Well done too to everyone who entered the competition and even to those who grabbed a book and an entry form meaning to enter. If it got you reading even one book that you wouldn't have otherwise done, that makes us happy.

The Challenge will be back next year so watch out for the launch during Youth Week 2010.