Holly Grove Elementary School is celebrating Read Across America, an annual reading motivation and awareness program, during the weeks of Feb. 27 and March 5. Students will expand and explore their love for reading by participating in various activities planned at the school.

The Reading School Improvement Committee has put together an exciting schedule including book readings by community figures, including Superintendent Tony Tata; Holly Springs Mayor, Dick Sears; an appearance by Beaux Foy, the lead singer of Airiel Down and the face of Wake County Public Library’s Smartest Card campaign; student and administration book talks and a family night at the Holly Springs Public Library.

Students are also challenged to read each night during the week in order to move Hedgie, Holly Grove’s school mascot, across America. Every 10 minutes spent reading equals 1 mile that Hedgie will move across America. In order to get Hedgie across the country, Holly Grove’s students will have to read for 30,000 minutes, or 500 hours. The school will track Hedgie’s progress on large maps of the United States outside our cafeteria.