Student-athletes participate in ‘Caring for Kindergartners’ program
More than 80 Chanticleer student-athletes and Chauncey recently visited 15 Horry County elementary schools to demonstrate to 81 kindergarten classes the importance of reading.
“Caring For Kindergartners” is a program created by United Way that emphasizes the significance of reading, giving and sharing. To incorporate this message, the athletes read Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” to the young students. This is the 14th year CCU athletes have participated in the program.
After listening to the student-athletes read, the kindergartners participated in a coloring activity. They were told to color a picture about a lesson they learned from the story, all of which were later sent to local senior citizens. Chauncey visited Carolina Forest Elementary and took pictures with the children.
“A lot of local teachers are CCU graduates, so for them to have their alma mater come into their classroom is really special for them," said Cari Rosiek, CCU associate athletic director. “It’s amazing to see it come full circle.”
The student-athletes were among CCU’s 18 intercollegiate athlete programs, coaches, athletic administrators and members of the cheerleading team who all participated in the event. The athletes are required to have a GPA higher than a 3.0 to participate.
“It is important to go out into our surrounding community and serve the youth by reading and spending time with them,” said Nicholas Clark, a football player and a senior graduate student in the business college. “Caring for Kindergartners is always a good reminder that we are role models, and our responsibility and duty as student-athletes is bigger than us. Fostering a positive student-athlete image both on campus and in the community is what we do in the Sun Belt Conference. Being able to take time out of our weeks and go have that open dialogue between a kindergartner about their passions and dreams is special."
“We eagerly anticipate this event and the ability to assist with stressing the importance of reading; it allows the athletes to reflect back to the time when they were in kindergarten,” said Rosiek. “It also helps to provide a wider fan base and support for the Chanticleers.”
