Students take up

reading challenge

at Matt Wilson



By Florence Rankin

flo.rankin@gaflnews.com



TIFTON – When Matt Wilson Elementary School dismissed for the summer, Principal Ron Fritz issued a standing invitation to neighborhood children: Anyone who wanted to come was welcome to read in the school library and/or take Accelerated Reader tests.

The note tucked into report cards caught the eyes of two neighborhood students, Vantrissa Williams, 10, and Cecilia Milton, 14. Since then, the girls have been at Matt Wilson almost every day, reading dozens of books and rolling up the AR points.

Vantrissa and Cecilia, who spend about two and a half hours a day at the Wilson library, say they wouldn’t be able to go to the public library downtown.

“I’ve always liked to read, but in regular school I didn’t have time,” Cecilia said. She has earned 51 points this summer and says her favorite books are the “Horrible Harry” series.

Vantrissa, who took a test Thursday morning, has 34.6 points. “I’ve got more points than I had all last year in regular school,” she said.

Vantrissa and Cecilia are not summer school students, but the reason Matt Wilson is open and available to them is because it’s the summer school site this year for elementary students.

Media specialist Ann Herzog said the summer school students have also been reading. Altogether, the Matt Wilson library has logged 1,641 AR points over the summer. Students have taken almost 3,500 tests.

“That’s a bunch of reading,” said Herzog, who works in the media center at Len Lastinger during the school year. Since AR was introduced to the school several years ago, she said she’s noticed that “they read more, that’s for sure. And they’re excited about reading.”

Thursday was the last day for summer testing at Matt Wilson, and the children will choose their prizes today.

Testing at the public library will continue through July 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays.

Citywide, Accelerated Readers have earned more than 1,240,000 points since the program was introduced. The points are awarded when students give the correct answers to tests over books they have read.



To contact city editor Florence Rankin, call 382-4321, ext. 209.