Principal lights way to reading

When principal Sue Keema learned her students had completed 3,200 hours of reading over the last month, she lit up.

As part of the theme "Reading lights the way," she fastened a helmet fashioned as a lighthouse to her head and paraded in front of the students Tuesday afternoon.

"Mrs. Keema is dressed like a lighthouse," remarked Andrea Ramirez, 9. "She's funny."

Vice principal Pat Beckwith joined Keema as the lighthouse keeper, dressed in a yellow rain slicker and galoshes and carrying a lantern.

"You've got to have fun with reading," said Keema, principal of Bordewich-Bray Elementary School. "Whatever it takes to get kids to read."

Teachers dedicated March as reading month and emphasized reading every day.

It worked with 9-year-old Courtney Hemovich.

"Oh my gosh, I read so much this month," she said. "I read a book in one night. I'm serious. It was fun."

But Karly Chelius, 9, said she needed no extra encouragement to read.

"It runs in my mom's side of the family," she explained. "We always read."

And she agreed with the "Reading lights the way" theme.

"It lights the way to greatness," she said.

Over the course of the month,16 deputies from the Carson City Sheriff's Department visited the school to read with the students, along with Sheriff Kenny Furlong.

Furlong and two officers attended the celebration Tuesday afternoon.

"I want these kids to grow up seeing these officers and know they're good people," Furlong said. "I want them to be able to trust them."