Chicago Public Schools student athletes help Englewood kids cultivate a love of reading

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some Chicago Public Schools student athletes are also mentors, working to promote literacy in younger children.

They're donating their time to encourage elementary school students in Englewood to read, and they are seeing great results!

Kindergarten students listened closely on Wednesday as a high school student read from the book "Llama Llama Red Pajama." The visit is part of a regular commitment from student athletes to encourage younger students to read.

"They were looking at us like superstars so I feel like we could be good role models to them for their future," said Vicky Luna, a De La Salle Institute student.

Teachers at Dulles Elementary say many of the students struggled with reading before the visits started. Now many of them are reading at above their grade level.

Classes in the school compete to have the most reading minutes every month in order to win a prize, like a pizza party for the class.

"Once you learn to read it opens up the entire world, dreams, opportunities to learn and to grow," said Joe Trost, with Buddy's Helpers.

In October, students donated some 3,000 books to the school. That allowed each classroom to offer a mini-library for students to check out books to read at home. Teachers say it's working.

"It cultivates a love for reading outside of school," First grade teacher Samantha Elster said. "It's not something they have to do, it's something they get to do."

Fourth grader Everette Jarrett is the top reader in his class for the month of March. He completed 11 hours' worth of reading. His prize? A pair of Bulls tickets!

"Definitely I would wanna read to get some Bulls tickets, but it's also about inspiring that love for reading," teacher Unique Woods said.

The group has adopted Dulles for the school year. They've been here once a month and plan two more visits before the end of the school year.