The Demorest Elementary School 4th graders who recently soared to the top of the charts in a global reading competition got a pleasant surprise Tuesday. The city of Demorest treated April LaHayne’s class to a surprise pizza party to celebrate their achievement.
City Manager Mark Musselwhite joined Demorest firefighters and police officers in congratulating the students. LaHayne’s class placed first in the state and second in the nation in the seventh annual READBowl 2024-Read with Malcolm competition.
Musselwhite praised the students for their hard work and commended them. “LaHaynes Reading Magic” averaged more than 77,000 minutes of reading each week to win the top honors in the competition.
When asked what they gave up to devote that much time to reading, many of the students said they gave up their video games and cell phones.
Musselwhite also praised LaHayne for encouraging and motivating her students during the competition.
Police and firefighters were going to give the students an additional treat. They brought two police vehicles and a fire truck so the students could ‘touch a truck.’ However, due to the weather, both chiefs had to issue a rain check.
An ‘extraordinary’ gesture
After the pizza party, LaHayne expressed her appreciation.
“I think it is extraordinary that they would reach out and show these kids how incredible what they did was.” She added, “It means a lot for them (the students) to see people in high places supporting the work they have done this year.”
Musselwhite said he and the other city employees wanted to celebrate the students’ achievements as state champs and national runners-up.
“They had to decide for themselves that this is something they wanted to accomplish and they went beyond everyone’s expectation,” he said.
Musselwhite added, “It’s a special group of 4th graders at Demorest Elementary.”
