Duncan student wins Thunder Reading Challenge

Sept. 10--The Plato Pirates traded in their usual mascot for a something a little fuzzier during a surprise assembly to honor one student -- fourth grader Laura Jo Stewart.

Laura Jo won last year's Thunder Reading Challenge as a third grader with the most minutes of independent reading in the state of Oklahoma. She totaled 35,886 minutes or 598.1 hours or 24.92 days of reading.

One of the prizes included a performance by everyone's favorite bison -- Rumble the Thunder team's mascot. His original performance, slated for last year, was canceled when the school closed for power outages.

So Debbie Williams, community relations programs manager, said they came as a "back-to-school" thing instead.

Laura Jo also won a bag of Thunder gear like flags, notebooks, posters and a team signed basketball.

"She read a lot," said Williams. "She was head and shoulders above most of the third graders in the state so she should be really proud of her self."

During Rumble's performance, Laura Jo got to help the NBA mascot pull off a magic trick -- levitation.

Other activities included teachers competing in a hoola-hoop race and acting out Rumble's favorite book "The Busy Body Book."

Laura Jo still buzzing with excitement said she couldn't pick a favorite book.

"I like 'em all -- mostly adventure," she said. "I just finished a big chapter book, 'Ever After High'"

Laura Jo's mom Angelita Stewart said they would often find Laura Jo up reading after she had been put to bed.

"She (My mom) took away my two flashlights that I had under my pillow," Laura Jo said. "I had two under my pillow in case one died. But she found them in my bed."

While Laura Jo can't compete in the reading challenge this year, she wanted other kids to join in.

"You can have tons of adventures if you do (read)," she said.

Stewart said she learned a lot by reading but her favorite thing was simple: Friendship is important.

Williams said the enrollment for this year's challenge was still open.

"This will be our ninth annual Thunder Reading Challenge so teachers in grades kindergarten through third grade are eligible to participate in this program," she said. "Last year we had roughly 1,600 teachers across Oklahoma. We had close to 40,000 students in the state reading because of the program. We get such positive feedback from teachers about how it motivates their kids to read."

Williams said there was only one stipulation for the challenge.

"It's not required reading, it has to be totally independent, it can't be something the teacher has assigned in class," she said. "Our young readers who are just starting, they can be read to and those minutes count."

American Fidelity Assurance Company sponsors the reading challenge and also other reading components like the Rolling Thunder Book Bus.

For more information or to sign up visit www.okcthunder.com/readingchallenge.

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