Columbus students learn importance of reading from Miss Minnesota

Berk Brown
Staff Writer

Allyson Kearns was able to get the full attention of students at Columbus Elementary when she visited the school earlier this month.

When you're Miss Minnesota, that's not such a hard thing to do.

Kearns spoke of the importance of reading to all the students of the school. It's part of the platform she ran on in the Miss Minnesota pageant and now she's taking it to the schools.

She's promoting the 10,000 at five program which stresses the importance of children having a vocabulary of 10,000 words by the age of five.

"It's really startling that there are so many kids that have reading levels below their grade level," Kearns said. "A lot of times, they aren't able to catch-up.

"So, it's important for them to start off at the right level."

Kearns, 22, grew up in Eden Prairie and will start law school next year. She's a dancer for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Columbus Principal Neal Fox said the school was able to get her to come speak to students thanks to a parent of a kindergartner.

When the school was talking about possible options to promote reading, Fox said the parent volunteered to contact Kearns, who was a friend of the family.

The opportunity to have a speaker come to the school who instantly commands the respect of the students was something Fox said the school was grateful for.

"It's very meaningful for students to connect with outside people of that magnitude," Fox said.

"For Allyson to spread the message of how important it is to read on a daily basis, and to do it at our school, is huge when it comes to the impact it has on the kids."

Kearns met with groups of students for the entire afternoon on Friday, Dec. 6. Each session she talked about the importance of reading to yourself as well as reading aloud to younger brothers, sisters, cousins or friends.

Then Kearns read her favorite book as a kid öÊThe Giving Tree ö to each of the kids. She then answered questions from the students, which ranged from, "Can we see your crown," to "Do you like the Vikings," to "Were you nervous at the Miss American pageant?"

Kearns took the time to answer as many questions as she could, but mostly she wanted to make sure each student left knowing how important it is to read.

When she's able to make students realize the importance of reading, she said, that's the most gratifying part of the experience.

"Seeing them get it. Seeing them get how important it is. That's the best part," she said.

"When kids tell you that they're going to go home and read to their little brother, it feels so great. It's so important, and if I can help just one student understand that, then I think it's a job well done."

(Photo by Berk Brown, Forest Lake Times)

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