The Huntington High School varsity softball team pitched in to help make this year’s Parents and Reading Partners program a success at Flower Hill Primary School.
The Blue Devils filmed a video promoting the event, with players encouraging the youngsters to read for at least 20 minutes daily. Students loved it and responded by reading more than ever during the initiative. The theme was “Take Me Out to the Library!” so the softball players fit right in.
The song, Take Me Out to the Ball Game has sounded out in ballparks since the Tin Pan Alley genre song debuted in 1908. It is usually sung during the seventh inning “stretch” of baseball games.
Blue Devil softball team members invited Flower Hill students to come watch a home game during PARP and to bring a favorite book for the players to autograph. Flower Hill invited the players to come read to students, which the teenagers did during a recent spring afternoon.
Earlier this week, second graders Madeline Leiter and Hunter Schmale visited the Blue Devils prior to the team’s varsity game against visiting Half Hollow Hills East. The youngsters came to collect autographs and cheer on the Huntington players.
The Blue Devils were made to feel like celebrities. They simply loved signing their name to whatever was presented and spent time talking to the two second graders.
Reports from Flower Hill indicate that students there have been reading every day. The Blue Devils are happy to have played a small role in motivating the youngsters and helping to make this year’s PARP program a success.
The visit of the two second graders to the Blue Devil field was cute. “It was amazing,” said Gina Leiter, the Flower Hill PTA’s corresponding secretary. “These girls are so impressive.”
