College of Education News

With “Thomas the Tank Engine,” among other titles in tow, 50 volunteers from the Student Advancement Group for Education (SAGE) prepped for their annual Read-A-Thon, hosted this year by the Urbana-Free Library. To promote childhood literacy and education, SAGE members spent the afternoon reading to children from the community, as well as conducting educationally driven activities. The annual event, free to the public, has occurred each spring semester since SAGE’s inception in 1996.

“Each year SAGE has two major activities-- the Read-a-Thon and the Library Book Drive,” said Josh Bodenheimer, president of SAGE. The Library Book Drive will occur later this semester when SAGE donates their profit from pizza sales, bagel sales, and “canning” efforts to several underprivileged schools in an effort to enhance their libraries.

At the Read-a-Thon, when Bodenheimer saw children enter the library with the bookmarks SAGE had distributed to schools, he knew the publicity had paid off. “Many schools and local businesses in the Champaign-Urbana area received information about the event. Bookmarks were sent to local schools to get students, parents, and families interested.”

Approximately 75-100 community members attended, Bodenheimer said, adding that this year’s event offered SAGE building blocks for improvement. “This Read-A-Thon was very informative in terms of future changes that can be made, but also in terms of number of people that showed up.”

While praising Read-A-Thon’s success, Bodenheimer sees opportunity for increased community engagement next year via newspapers and radio stations.  He also hopes for potential sponsorships from businesses like Panera Bread, for example. “We are also attempting to have the University of Illinois College of Education assist us in the process,” he said, adding that the physical layout of the event may need to be altered such that the activities and craft room does not distract from the main goal: reading. “We will look into these changes as part of a long-term goal and development process.”

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