March 28, 2024

Kellogg Lions read with Woodrow Wilson students

Reading program now in its third year

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, here at the aquarium.”

That’s one of the lines Janice Price read from the book “Fly Guy Presents: Sharks” during a recent trip to Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. Price and three other volunteers from the Kellogg Lions Club made an annual trip to Woodrow Wilson on May 1 to read to the special-education students of teachers Jody Barr and Michelle Stoker.

The May 1 trip was the third trek the Kellogg Lions made to the school in recent years, the first one happening in 2013. By the looks on the faces of the volunteers and students, the activity is beneficial to all involved.

Janice and Bob Price are members of the Kellogg Lions, who take on various community service causes each year. Janice Price is also a para-professional at Woodrow Wilson.

While she sees progress in students as they go through an entire school year, some of the other Kellogg Lions also saw signs of development — even by only interacting with them one day per year.

“We love to see students grow,” Janice Price said. “We love to see them learn about different things.”

Literacy, hospice facilities and food pantries are among the types of community causes taken up by Lions clubs. The Kellogg Lions’ benefit causes are funded greatly by monthly pancake breakfasts.

Price said because the Lions have been over to Woodrow Wilson in multiple years, they’ve had a chance to see how much progress each young reader has made.

“Some of them, we’ve followed through the fifth and sixth grades, and now they’ll be going into seventh (at Berg Middle School),” Price said. “Some have made gains just since the start of the school year.”

Gage Eilander, one of the students who was in Barr’s special-education classroom at Woodrow Wilson for the May 1 reading session, looked on as Price read from “Fly Guy Presents: Sharks.” Eilander went on to tell Price a great deal of details he’d learned along the way about sharks and their behavior.

Price said part of the reading efforts are to make special education students feel included in the school process.

Eilander is an example of a student clearly accepted by his peers. At a March assembly, he was one of the students asked to stand up and be recognized for his progress and efforts during a recently completed quarter, and he garnered as much applause as any other student honored that day.