Families with students in kindergarten through third grade should make their way to the Roundhouse Thursday, April 18, for fun, games, prizes, and most importantly, free books.
The Marshalltown High School Junior Rotarians are hosting Reading in the Roundhouse from 5:30 to 7 pm that evening, an event promoting reading and community unity.
Organizers Connor Ruddick, Taylor Fuccio, Maddison Wignall and Lauren Mazour are all seniors at Marshalltown High School. As Junior Rotarians they regularly attend Rotary Club meetings in Marshalltown, but this year were asked to do more.
“Rotary challenged student Rotarians this year to get more involved,” Ruddick said. “They wanted us to come up with a project and get us involved.”
The students decided to focus on reading, a focus of the All-America Cities campaign: Spread the Words, Read by Third. Throughout the school year they’ve visited Marshalltown elementary schools, reading to classes or one-on-one with elementary students.
The Reading in the Roundhouse is the culmination of their work all school year, which in addition to reading with kids included a city-wide book drive. The Junior Rotarians hope to have a big crowd on April 18, as they have a lot of fun activities planned and a lot of books to give away.
The goal is to make Reading in the Roundhouse an annual event, with this work of this year’s Junior Rotarians laying the groundwork for future MHS students to take the helm.
The students have plenty of volunteers lined up to help with activities like BINGO and other games, as well as read with students. There will also be some special guests and other surprises families will have to attend to learn about.
They are still accepting book donations, which can be dropped off at Marshalltown High School.
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