Michael Phelps Motivates Middle School

Earlier this month, one of our most decorated Olympic swimmers, Michael Phelps, rewarded the students and staff at Wiley Middle School in Leander Texas for holding a unique and successful book fair…as the first place winners in the Spring 2009 National Middle School Contest, they won a visit from Michael Phelps and a $2,000 shopping spree for books.

According to the website, Wiley rightly deserved first place…the creativity and thought put into this book fair is impressive:

Books came alive at Mrs. Magorium’s Reading Emporium, also known as the spring 2009 Book Fair. The Crew helped transform the media center into a reading emporium, filled with colorful lanterns and parachutes hanging from the ceiling, as well as gigantic stuffed animals, roller coaster toys, and oversized candy displays. To promote the Book Fair, students created door decorations based on their class’s favorite book, and made tri-fold display boards about books. A classroom competition was held for One for Books®, which led to more than $1,500 collected for the program. Other contests to generate student excitement included “Sock It to Reading” and “Hats Off to Reading” days, where students dressed in crazy socks and hats. To attract families, an exciting Family Event was held, complete with a model air plane show from Texas High Fliers, a performance by the student band, movies, and food. Wiley also hosted their first-ever grand slam breakfast for grandparents during the Book Fair. In addition to hosting a fun Teacher Sneak Peek of the Book Fair, Wiley held three faculty stunts to motivate even more students to visit the Book Fair. The wacky stunts included a teacher eating a worm, a teacher shaving his head, and the principal riding a motorcycle once students reached their Book Fair goal. To top off the Fair, had visits from author Phil Bildner and the director of Monsters vs. Aliens Conrad Vernon. All of these activities and events made Wiley Middle School’s Book Fair come alive with imagination and creativity!

And THAT my friends, is how you attract a star athlete to your school.

About Scholastic: Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has a corporate mission supported through all of its divisions of helping children around the world to read and learn. Recognizing that literacy is the cornerstone of a child’s intellectual, personal and cultural growth, for over 87 years, Scholastic has created quality products and services that educate, entertain and motivate children and are designed to help enlarge their understanding of the world around them.

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com