Good sports

From an 8-year-old’s perspective, even the coolest teacher or parent isn’t quite as cool as a high school athlete.

That’s part of the premise behind a program at La Cueva High School, in which high school athletes go to area elementary schools to read to students and talk about the importance of doing well in school.

“Elementary kids look up to high school kids like high school kids look up to college kids,” said Debbie Easton, a counselor at La Cueva. Easton started the program, which is inspired by the Second and Seven Foundation at Ohio State University. The Ohio State program sends college athletes into classrooms, while the local program uses high school students. Easton is an Ohio State alumna who decided to modify the program for the high school students she works with.

More than 60 La Cueva juniors and seniors have volunteered to participate in the program, which is in its first year. Students from different sports read books that are provided by the Foundation and which teach lessons about perseverance, teamwork and other values.

The younger students also sign a pledge, in which they promise to attend school regularly and work hard at their assignments.

Michael Rose, 18, is a La Cueva senior who plays football and runs track. On a recent afternoon, he finished reading with a group of Double Eagle Elementary second-graders, then read them the pledge and helped them fill it out.

“It’s fun to read to them because they’re always excited,” he said. “When I was a kid, I always looked up to the kids in high school.”

One of the students in Rose’s group was Madison Hayden, a chatty 7-year-old who said she appreciated the athletes taking time out of the day to read to them.

“I like that they come from their school just to spend time with us,” Hayden said.

Student-athletes use different strategies for reading. Some read the whole book out loud to the elementary students, while others had the younger students take turns reading pages, helping them if the kids got stuck on words. Some asked questions while reading a book about camping, asking if students liked camping or knew how to use a compass.

After reading the books and having the kids sign pledges, the student athletes answered questions for the whole class. The younger students mostly wanted to ask about injuries and asked a cheerleader whether she had ever been lifted into the air. But teachers steered the conversation to the time and effort required to maintain good grades and excel in sports.

The students all said they have A’s and B’s, and talked about their grueling practice and homework schedules. Julia Warren, an 18-year-old senior who plays volleyball, told students that grades always have to come first, since students must maintain their grades to stay eligible to play.

“Notice it’s student-athlete, not athlete-student,” Warren said. “School comes first.”