The pages have been turned, the hours tallied and the results are in. The "Readers are Leaders" program at Henry Defer Intermediate School has wrapped up a successful inaugural month. Angela Novotny, a school aide at HDI, and her husband Brian, a Streetsboro firefighter, created "Readers are Leaders" to inspire students to pick up books more often and discover the adventures that reading can bring.
Students in grades three, four and five tracked time spent reading outside of school each week throughout March in an attempt to log the most hours. Three lucky students have earned the ultimate prize: a ride to school on a Streetsboro fire truck, complete with the lights and sirens.
Leading the pack was Scarlett Chalkwater, a fourth-grader who logged an impressive 200 hours of reading. Chalkwater made her arrival to HDI on Tuesday, April 21 aboard a Streetsboro fire truck, pulling up to school with lights flashing and sirens blaring to the delight of classmates who turned out to watch.
Third-grader Julian Karpinecz and fifth-grader Journey Kamal, each topped their respective grade levels to claim a spot on the fire truck.
Six additional students earned recognition as second and third place finishers. Nathaniel Chen and Cora Hoover topped their peers in third grade, while Miriam Khannoussi and Serenity James did the same in fourth grade. Georgia Engnan and Betty Morgan rounded out the winners in fifth grade. All six will celebrate their achievement with a pizza party alongside firefighter Brian Novotny on May 11.