Schools' bike giveaway to help kids read their way to success

Thousands of elementary school students across the Wasatch Front next school year will reap the educational rewards of reading. And 200 of them will get an additional reward as well: a brand-new bike.

The 2007-08 school year marks the beginning of the Ken Garff Road to Success Program, an incentive program to encourage reading among elementary school students. State education representatives and corporate sponsors presented the program Thursday at Woods Cross High School to teachers and administrators from the 50 schools — from Layton to Provo — that will be participating.

The program is designed to encourage students to read 20 minutes a day, five days a week, by providing prizes and incentives, said Rick Folkerson, vice president of Ken Garff Automotive Group, which sponsors the program.

But the program isn't just about giving away bikes and prizes, said Ken Garff CEO Robert Garff. It's about encouraging children to read, which helps all of society. The more early reading practice children have, the more they succeed academically and in every other area for the rest of their lives, he said.

"If we can, collectively, together, become better readers, then our whole community is lifted," Garff said.

For every 100 minutes read, a student will be allowed to enter a drawing for a new bike. Each school will hold drawings at the end of the year to give away four bikes, two for girls and two for boys. Teachers will also have pencils, bookmarks, key chains and other prizes to give to students who meet reading goals.

Students will also keep track of their reading progress on class charts provided by Ken Garff, and classes will chart their progress on larger school charts. This will encourage all the students to progress together and support each other, Folkerson said.

Darlene Bell, principal of Freedom Elementary School in Hooper, said the program will be a positive way for teachers to encourage reading. Better results come from rewarding students than from punishing them, and a program like Road to Success will increase students' desire to read, she said. Bell said her staff has seen success with similar incentive programs dealing with discipline and expects this program to work as well.

"Most teachers are doing these kinds of things in the classroom anyway, and this gives them something that is schoolwide to participate in," Bell said. "It'll also help them save some money."

A semitrailer truck from Wal-Mart was at the school to drop off the 200 bikes and other prizes for the school administrators to take. Folkerson encouraged the administrators to assemble the bikes and display them in their schools to remind kids to read.

The program is similar to Ken Garff's Keys to Success program, which rewards high school students who improve their academic performance with the chance to win a car.

---

E-mail: dfelix@desnews.com