The annual Pick a Reading Partner (PARP) initiative kicked off to promote students reading outside of the classroom. The event, designed to promote school Forestville students spoke via video chat with a NASA scientist as part of the annual PARP kickoff at Forestville Elementary School.

spirit and teamwork, featured engaging activities that had everyone participating, laughing, and having fun.

“We get a lot of community buy-in. Our parents are all hands on deck with this. They want their kids to participate,” said Elementary Principal Shauna McMahon.

The State’s PARP program was developed in 1978 by New York State Sen. James Donovan, with a goal to support a connection between the home and the school to support literacy. PARP formerly stood for Parents as Reading Partners, before it was recently renamed Pick a Reading Partner in 2015 in an effort to be more inclusive.

Forestville students spoke via video chat with a NASA scientist as part of the annual PARP kickoff at Forestville Elementary School.

Forestville’s initiative is centered around 15 minutes a night of reading for five nights a week, or 75 minutes of reading in a week, outside of the classroom.

As has become tradition at Forestville, a handful of staff volunteered to stay after school to help students get their reading time in. McMahon was impressed with the response, as 90 students are participating in after school reading.

Each year, a committee of teachers and staff come up with a theme. A dedicated member of the committee is Gary Worosz, a second grade teacher at Forestville Elementary School, who has been involved in coordinating the PARP event at Forestville each year since 1991.

This year, the popular space theme resonated with the title, “Reading is out of this world”.

The many themes over the years at Forestville have led to administrators dressed as sumo wrestlers, a squirrel, a pirate, and even Abraham Lincoln. But this year, Forestville welcomed a guest like never before.

Forestville Superintendent Dr. John O’Connor raises his arms after being covered in silly string following a competition at the annual PARP kickoff.

NASA Scientist Brandon Larson, an Engineer for Safety and Mission Assurance at the Kennedy Space Center, spoke with students over a video chat. Larson took students on a virtual tour of a spaceship and discussed the work he has done with NASA. It was his first experience to speak with elementary students about his job, which resonated as a parent of an elementary student himself.

“The opportunity for our students to speak with a NASA scientist was awesome,” said McMahon. “They had a chance to ask questions and interact. It was just really nice.”

A year ago, McMahon participated in the event for her first time with her new district. Now with a year under her belt, McMahon’s comfort level has grown, even enough to make up for a loss a year ago in the principal showdown.

As part of last year’s competition with Middle/High School Principal Dan Grande, McMahon’s magic trick was bested by Grande’s trick as the school embraced the theme of “Discover the magic of reading!” This year, McMahon competed against Superintendent Dr. John O’Connor in a space themed game. McMahon said O’Connor was “all in for what the team had planned.”

McMahon noted she was “super excited” to win the event this year, especially to make up for her performance a year ago as Grande’s magic trick dazzled the young students while McMahon’s number guessing game was no match.

This year, McMahon jumped through all the hoops to get a win.

First, the contestants had to walk on the moon like astronauts after making an astronaut helmet out of toilet paper. Then, they had to fly like a spaceship, then moonwalk while holding the moon over their heads. Finally, the competition ended with the contestants trying to name the planets in order. McMahon joked, “I was thrilled I remembered the order of the planets.”

O’Connor was blasted with silly string as a result of losing the competition. He raised his arms proudly as he was covered with string. McMahon was hit with silly string afterwards as laughter filled the gym.

No wonder Forestville gets students so excited about reading.