Booking with the Pack

 

 

“Booking With The Pack” is a project that focuses on promoting reading in local area middle schools with the long term goal of improving literacy in the area.

In 2008, “Booking With The Pack” was run through the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes at North Carolina State University by “Booking With The Pack” Intern, Jennifer MacNab, under the guidance of Executive Director Philip Moses. The hope of NCSU’s ASPSA is to put books in the hands of children and adults of all walks of life with the belief that by giving away the necessary educational materials, a passion for reading and learning will be ignited in the recipients.

Our “Booking With The Pack” initiative is a 2 part project that focuses on promoting reading in local middle schools and other worthy organizations with the long term goal of improving literacy throughout North Carolina.

The first part of the program involved 9 local middle schools who participated in a reading incentive program. The program is a ten week process intended to reward students for reading during that time frame. Teachers are given various tools to record students’ progress including summary sheets, and book tracking sheets as well as access to a website with all the “Booking With The Pack” resources uploaded. Originally the program was designed to reward students who read 10 books in 10 weeks; however it is at the teacher or administrator’s discretion when to make provisions for especially long books or students with special needs. The goals of this program is to instill a love of reading in North Carolina youth as well as provide positive rewards in the form of Wolfpack Women’s Basketball tickets, and meet and greets with various NCSU athletes. Participants who completed the program this year were rewarded with complimentary tickets to an NCSU Lady Wolfpack basketball game as well as other prizes and recognition at half time.

The second portion of “Booking With The Pack” involves collecting donations from businesses in the form of books, school supplies, or money (used to purchase afore mentioned items), and putting these resources in the hands of those who desperately need them. Our student athletes and staff have participated in bringing these materials to worthy locations such as the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities, The Healing Place, The Boys and Girls Club of Wake County and Haven House Services. We look forward to continuing to provide these places with the necessary tools for creating a love of learning and life long literacy.

Our 2008 partners included Carolina Pottery, Borders, Lowe’s, Addams Bookstore, and NC State University Bookstore. Carolina Pottery and Borders contributed the books donated to the various locations listed above. Lowe’s generously donated book shelving in order to create the library at the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental disabilities. Addams and NC State Bookstores both donated basketballs newly incorporated into the program. These basketballs were autographed by the Lady Wolfpack and each was used in a way that would increase participation and excitement in the program. Holly Ridge Middle School placed their basketball in a display case and awarded it to one successful “Booking With The Pack” participant. Ligon Middle School organized “Go Red for Reading Day” which included a raffle to win the autographed basketball, participate in the ½ time lay up contest organized in conjunction with Morgan Rogers, Assistant Director of Marketing for NC State Athletics, as well as posters we provided, books and other items. The Franciscan School recognized the successful “Booking With The Pack” participants and drew names out of a hat for the autographed ball. These are a few examples o f how schools used their own ideas to promote the program with the balls we provided.

Another way ASPSA at NCSU generated excitement surrounding “Booking With The Pack” was through multiple “pep-rallies” at various middle schools (upon request). Each pep-rally had from 2-6 student athletes present as well as program facilitators Phil Moses and Jennifer MacNab. The schools that requested and received kick off pep rallies were: Our Lady of Lourdes, Centennial Middle School, West Millbrook Middle School, Holly Ridge Middle School. This year we also incorporated an October 31st Halloween book donation/trick or treat with student athletes and ASPSA staff present to distribute books to the students at the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities. Local news coverage of this event included WRAL and NBC 17 as well as the attached article (appendix A) written for gopack.com.

In total, 9 schools participated in 2008 “Booking With The Pack”. These schools are listed with the respective number of successful participants coming from each school. Participants include: Ligon Middle School (250), Reedy Creek Middle School (20), Lufkin Road Middle School (15), West Millbrook Middle School (50), The Franciscan School (29), Centennial Middle School (~30), Holly Ridge Middle School (75), St. Mary Magdalene (80), Our Lady of Lourdes (8). This is a total of about 557 participants. Of these students, approximately 750 students, family, friends, faculty and staff attended the December 7th Women’s Basketball game vs. Florida. At the basketball game, the participants enjoyed meet and greet with various NCSU student athletes, poster giveaways, ½ time contests and score board recognition. Furthermore, each successful participant was given a certificate of accomplishment to celebrate their commitment to the program.

Following the end of the program, testimonials and letters of appreciation were collected from participating students, student athletes and teachers alike. Below are some of those testimonials:

Krystal Hawkins, NCSU Softball: “My experience at Holly Ridge Middle School was a very memorable one. Never have I spoken to such a large number of children who were so respectful, attentive and enthusiastic about their education. It was a pleasure and I thank God for the opportunity.”

Holly Ridge Middle School Student: …”I learned that NCSU college is a great place to go and that education is more important than athletics. The most important thing I learned was that I am the biggest part of my future and I have to control it.”

Professor Sixth Grade Language Arts, The Franciscan School “Thanks again for all that you did for the “Booking With The Pack” Program. All of my students (and their families) had a great time at the game yesterday. In particular, I would like to thank you for three things that were different this year.: 1) The weekend game instead of a weeknight game was awesome. So many more students/families were able to attend. 2) giving each school as basketball…the kids loved it 3) the ½ time program that involved the students and teachers…what fun!...”

While our participation numbers fell a bit short of our hopes this year, it is clear from the above testimonials and many others that our actions are having a positive, inspirational and educational affect on the community. As we continue this program, we aim to touch as many lives as possible and promote reading as something students will do on their own time to better their future. We believe literacy and love of learning to be the most important predictor of future success and we remain committed to instilling this belief in teachers and students alike.

Booking with the Pack Handbook ( MS Word | PDF )

If you are interested in participating, please email Jennifer MacNab at jlmacnab@hotmail.com for more information.