University of North Carolina Athletics
Marcus Paige Visits Rashkis Elementary
January 20, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Seven hours before playing against Wake Forest in the Dean Smith Center Wednesday night, Marcus Paige made a visit to Rashkis Elementary school to read to a handful of third graders.
UNC Athletics partnered with Duke Energy State President David Fountain to encourage kids to read during Rashkis' Read-A-Thon event. The event promotes reading daily and the school has a goal of its students to read 100,000 minutes a week.
Mrs. Nelson's, Miss. Robertson's, Miss. Langrall's, Mrs. Wirth's and Mrs. Sinclair's third-grade students sat on the library floor awaiting the arrival of their special guest that day. Fountain was introduced by the school principal Dr. Janice Croasmun.
Fountain went on to talk to the kids about the importance of reading, and encouraged the children to read everyday.
He then introduced Paige like Paige is normally introduced at the Smith Center, “At guard, a 6-2 senior from Marion, Iowa… Marcus Paige!” The kids' faces lit up as Paige walked into the library and sat in front of them.
“It's very cool,” said Paige “I was wondering if they were going to be too young to recognize me, but they got excited when I walked in. It's really cool to know you have the potential to impact a kid's life or school year by showing up and reading to them.”
Fountain and Paige read “Salt In His Shoes,” by Delores Jordan, Michael Jordan's mother, to the third graders. The kids sat in quiet, listening attentively to Fountain and Paige read. You could tell many kids were sitting in front of their favorite Carolina basketball player.
But Paige was there not only to read to the kids but to provide encouragement and direction about reading.
“Reading is the foundation of your education,” was one of the first things he said to the group of about 100. And it's something he really believes in.
“Reading is the most important fundamental skill if you want to be a smart person and be educated. Everything you do in college is based off reading. Your writing skills are based off how well you can read. If you can't read than it's going to prevent you from going places in life.”
It was Paige's mother, a school teacher herself, who was instrumental in instilling the importance of reading in him.
“She was always on me in school all the way from grade school to my senior year in college making sure I do ok. She's always been there getting me reading and doing well in school, so I have to thank her for that.”
The two-time second-team Academic All-America helped pass out children's books with Rameses following the reading session and signed posters for each classroom. The children and teachers were very appreciative of his time at Rashkis.
“He's just a great role model for them,” third grade teacher Mrs. Wirth said. “We've been talking a lot about character traits of characters in the books we've been reading and how we have special character traits that help us out in life. He's a really good model for us for that reason.”
Fountain was very pleased to have Paige join him in the reading and saw the importance of having a community figure reading to the kids on Wednesday.
“Student-athletes are such role models and Marcus Paige is an outstanding representative of the university,” Fountain said. “For us to be able to partner with UNC Athletics to get kids to be excited about reading, and having Marcus Paige here to read to these kids, we're very excited to be able to help support it.”
