Falconer Central School’s two elementary school principals recently underwent physically demanding challenges to promote daily reading among their students.

Holly Hannon, Temple Elementary School principal, and Gary Gilbert, Fenner Elementary School principal, challenged their students to read 15-20 minutes every day in collaboration with Pizza Hut’s Book It! program.

The Book It! program was established in 1984 as a way to promote reading among the nation’s youth, with the reward of a personal pan pizza for each student who completed the reading goals set for them by their teachers between the months of October and March. During National Young Readers Week, which was observed from Nov. 10-14, the Book It! program challenged every school principal across the nation to read for the duration of an entire school day in an entertaining way.

Hannon, who also teaches indoor cycling at the Jamestown YMCA, chose to borrow a stationary bike from the Y and ride it outside of her Temple office for the entire school day on Thursday, Nov. 13. Over the course of the day, all 15 of Temple’s classes came by to visit with Hannon while she read a different book to each class.

“The challenge was for principals to select an activity that they could sustain for six hours, and incorporate reading into that activity,” Hannon said. “When the students came by, I told them about my job at the school, that I teach indoor cycling at the Y and that I love to read. So I was able to do two of my favorite things for this challenge, and the students were able to see that I could read while riding a bike and still be enthusiastic about it.”

In addition to the considerable amount of reading Hannon did over the six-hour school day, it was also witnessed that she did, indeed, continue pedaling for the duration of school hours.

Gilbert chose to do his reading from a place of prominence, a treestand affixed to the telephone pole in front of the school’s outdoor playground. Gilbert undertook his challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 12, when Fenner’s classes cycled by the treestand in 15-minute increments. He said the teachers and students selected the reading material, which they then placed into a backpack that he hauled up by rope to read aloud from 15 feet in the air.

“We wanted to do something memorable for the students, and it was my incentive to do something that was challenging for me because that’s how important reading is to me,” Gilbert said. “It was a good, memorable experience for (the students), and having reading be associated with that experience is what makes it special.”

Both Hannon and Gilbert encouraged the students to do their own reading for at least 15 minutes each day, using the fact that each of the principals were still able to read while being engaged in other activities as a model for inspiration.