Program Will Visit Area Schools in Coming Weeks
Angelina College players Gary Blackston and Malcolm Evans settled their basketball-sized frames in chairs sized for tiny elementary school students, they were prepared to read “Are Pirates Polite?” to some Trout Elementary School youngsters.
However, after introducing themselves and mentioning their home towns, the lesson became both a reading and geography lesson.
Blackston told the class he’s from Baltimore, Maryland and Evans described his home town of Jackson, Mississippi. To the kids from Lufkin, the big guys in front of them may have well have been from another country.
Blackston and Evans were present Friday at Trout to help the Roadrunner basketball team tip off its “Roadrunner Read-a-Thon” program. For the next several weeks, AC coaches and players will visit various elementary schools in the area, with both groups volunteering to read to the young students in an effort to promote individual reading skills.
AC head coach Kyle Manary told the students he reads to his own children every night and every morning.
“To be whatever you want to be when you grow up, you’ve got to train your brain, and there’s no better way to do that than by reading,” Manary explained. “Besides all the cool stuff you learn, it’s just fun.” Manary’s e-mail address is kmanary@angelina.edu.
The Roadrunners will tip off their regular season at home on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The game against Victoria College will start at 7 p.m.
The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.
