Rochester school takes top honors on reading challenge

Rochester Middle School students read for more than 300,000 minutes this summer, earning them the title of "Best in State" for New Hampshire in the 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER -- Superintendent Michael Hopkins announced today that students in the Rochester Public Schools are "top of the class" in New Hampshire when it comes to reading.

Rochester Middle School students read for more than 300,000 minutes this summer, earning them the title of "Best in State" for New Hampshire in the 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. The school will be featured in 2018 Scholastic Book of World Records and will receive a commemorative plaque and a celebration kit to commemorate the students' summer reading achievements.

"I am incredibly proud of our Middle School students and faculty for becoming statewide reading leaders," Hopkins said. "The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a vital program that keeps learning going all year and prevents regression between school years."

This summer, children all 50 states, Washington, D.C., two U.S. territories and 14 countries read 138,399,392 million minutes in the 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge.

School administrators credit the work of teachers and specialists during the year, for making reading fun and motivating students during the school year to read all summer.

"Students at Rochester Middle School were introduced to the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge in May 2017 and were encouraged by their teachers to log in minutes almost as soon as the program started," said Chris Evans, Reading Specialist at Rochester Middle School. "Getting students logged in and using the program before they left school for the summer and incentives such as pizza parties for the winning classes at each grade level contributed to our program's success."

The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is designed to help kids turn the "summer slide"--the learning loss which can occur over the summer months--into a "summer leap" by discovering the power and joy of reading for fun. This year's theme, "Happy Camper: Take a Reading Adventure," came to life featuring beloved Scholastic characters, including custom Dog Man illustrations from Dav Pilkey, bestselling author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series and our Scholastic Summer Reading Global Ambassador. The program offered kids the chance to log their reading minutes to earn digital prizes as they completed weekly reading challenges, gaining access to 18 reading activities, including games, quizzes and videos based on popular children's books. Parents and families also had access to free summer reading resources, including book lists across all age groups in both English and Spanish.

"Scholastic is immensely proud of the students who joined the 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and read all summer long, taking their own reading adventures and logging more than 138 million minutes," said Michael Haggen, Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Education. "Thanks to the encouragement and support of their families, educators, public libraries and community organizations, these students have returned to school ready to learn and prepared for the current school year."