To help get children excited about reading, the Los Angeles Dodgers partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, and on October 26th hosted a bilingual (English and Spanish) LA Reads Together event with students and families from KIPP Promesa Prep, which featured former Dodger all-star outfielder and coach, Manny Mota.
LA Reads is a literacy campaign that includes a monthly literacy challenge — “Dodgers Reading Champions” — to motivate youth to read and help them build a lifelong love of reading. “And we have our very own Dodgers Reading Champion at KIPP Promesa,” announced Mrs. Rodriguez, KIPP Promesa’s School Leader.
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“Congratulations to Jaden Moraga for reading a total of 1,590 minutes this past month. We are all so very proud of you.” Mrs. Rodriguez said, “raise your hands if you will read lots of minutes, KIPPsters!” then students enthusiastically raised their hands with beaming smiles excited to read more every day.
“Jaden, felicitaciones por haber ganado ese trofeo. Yo espero que eso sirva como inspiración y motivación para todos tus compañeros — para que todos se dedican a la lectura, para que siempre estén leyendo antes de acostarse, y que tengan la dedicación a la lectura porque eso es muy pero muy importante," shared Mr. Mota, member of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame, when discussing how important school is. He also stated, "Pero recuerden que siempre hay espacio para mejorar y eso los llevará a un nivel mucho más alto,” to remind us that there is always room to grow to reach new heights.
On a similar note, KIPP Promesa loves empowering students and celebrating powerful stories of inclusion, diversity and hope. Having said that, the event also included a reading of the book “Islandborn” by Dominican-American author and Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Díaz to focus on creating community and encouraging youth to read 30 minutes a day.
And with the encouraging words of Mr. Mota, our KIPPsters learned that nothing is impossible: “En desafío, hay que enfrentar metas porque nada es fácil, pero nada es imposible. Si se trata con concentración, dedicación y se fijan a una meta, uno puede superar todos los obstáculos que se presentan. Siempre hay que pensar en una manera positiva que si se puede lograr. ¡Si se puede!”
As the event was coming to a close, our KIPPSters heard it here first before game 6 of the World Series, the Dodgers “tienen dedicación, tienen entrega, juegan al nivel de equipo, y son toda una familia. La ciudad necesita un campeonato. Nosotros consideramos que este es el año de Los Ángeles!” And, indeed, it was L.A.'s year — the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series ending the city's 32-year title drought!
All time MLB record-setting pinch hitter concluded by thanking our school communities for supporting our students' success, “Quiero felicitar a todos por este gran esfuerzo que ustedes realizan para el beneficio de todos los estudiantes.”
LA Reads Program is an LA Dodgers literacy program for kids grades 1-8th. Be a reading champion! Take the challenge today. Register your child at: dodgers.com/lareads. Young reading champions who have read at least 15 – 30 minutes per day will be eligible for a drawing to win great Dodgers’ prizes! If you've already registered, submit your minutes for this month's challenge by 10/31!