NBK CO Presents Awards to Local Elementary School Students

SILVERDALE, Wash. (NNS) -- The Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., commanding officer presented medals and certificates to Cougar Valley Elementary School students March 21.

Capt. Pete Dawson awarded the students for taking part in Reading Olympics at the school from March 1, 2012, to Feb. 1, of this year.

Reading Olympics is designed to increase students' reading for enjoyment and increase reading skills. Students collaborate with their teammates to read 40-50 books that have been selected by a committee of librarians, reading specialists and classroom teachers. These professionals read the books and write questions the teams of students answer during the competition.

The Reading Olympics is primarily a celebration of reading rather than a contest, so all participants are awarded ribbons. Since the teams generate much excitement about this event, the experience can be rewarding for those involved.

"I'm here today to discuss something very important to me, and something that should be very important to all of you: reading," said Dawson. "Reading is like exercise, you have to do it daily. So read the newspaper, read magazines and comics, and read books."

Depending on how many hours each student read, they were presented with either a bronze, silver or gold medal. Lisa Pitcher's entire fifth grade class participated and every student earned a gold medal. For their success the class received a special certificate.

"We give out medals for sports and art, but we don't give out enough awards for reading," said Dawson. "We need to do this more often."

This year Cougar Valley Elementary School students set a new record of 207,953 total minutes reading; with 20 classrooms participating in Reading Olympics.

"We have a large percentage of Navy-connected kids who attend school here, and it means the world to them for them to be presented with their medals by someone who exemplifies what a role model is," said Chris Visserman, Cougar Valley Elementary principal. "We greatly appreciate him coming out here today."

This is Dawson's second year handing out medals to the children at the school.

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