Read To Grow JoCo First Annual Poster Contest Winners

Local Campaign for Grade Level Reading Aims to Decrease Chronic Absenteeism

JOHNSTON COUNTY – Did you know that absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year? Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school. Read to Grow Johnston County recently held its first annual “Attendance Matters” poster contest for Elementary School age children across Johnston County. There were 147 entries, making it difficult to judge so many amazing posters.

Students were encouraged to submit a poster highlighting “Why Attendance Matters”. The top poster from each grade and school category from left to right are:

Teagan McGuire (5th grade, Riverwood Elementary)
Lucía Suárez (3rd grade, West Clayton Elementary)
Vinicius De Carvalho Lopes (2nd grade, Riverwood Elementary)
Lily Tereba (4th grade, Neuse Charter School)
Nathanial Wahl (4th grade, Riverwood Elementary)
Rory Wahl (Kindergarten, Riverwood Elementary)
Avelyn Nunez (1st grade, West Smithfield Elementary)
Sophie Kolesar, (5th grade, Neuse Charter School) not pictured.

Each contest winner received a Read to grow backpack filled with items to promote good attendance and their creativity. Funding for this project came from Johnston County Commissioners. Read to Grow is grateful to the Johnston County Commissioners, for supporting the efforts to increase school attendance. Together Johnston County can work towards improved student attendance.

Chronic student absenteeism is a problem as early as kindergarten and preschool. By helping families build the habit of attendance in the early grades through routines, we can help families influence their children’s chances of graduating from high school.

ABOUT READ TO GROW JOHNSTON COUNTY

Read to Grow Johnston County joined the National Campaign for Grade Level Reading in June 2021. Read to Grow consists of a wide variety of community members including business leaders, faith community members, families, Partnership for Children of Johnston County (PFCJC), My Kids Club, Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS), and JCPS Board of Education. As a collaborative group, Read to Grow Johnston County is working to connect resources, develop initiatives, and achieve the targets and milestones set to impact the 3 pillars of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR), kindergarten readiness, chronic absenteeism, and summer learning loss. 

Read to Grow’s members are passionate about the success of all children and their families in Johnston County. They understand that for our communities to survive and thrive, children need to be reading on grade level, interventions need to start early and be sustainable, and most importantly, children cannot do this alone The Campaign supports a whole-child approach, including addressing the needs of the family and other factors that impact a child outside of a school classroom.

For more information or to get involved contact Heather Machia at 919-975-2511.