Here's Hannah reading with one of the kiddies.
Hannah McRae Young, 15, cheers for two different squads, reviews books with her mom for the Winston-Salem Journal and, oh yeah, started a mega successful community service program. Talk about an all-star.
A year ago, Hannah went to a local classroom and read to a group of kindergarteners. Soon, other teachers were asking if cheerleaders could come into their classrooms for story time, too.
CheeReaders started catching on faster than you can say, “Go team!”
“We’ve had about 34 states and 140 cheerleaders in all participate, even one in Canada,” Hannah spills. But this busy babe doesn’t let her sched get in the way of the project—she still goes into classrooms and shares her love of books with the kids. “I make sure I have a lot of time to go in and read. It’s a lot of fun and I don’t want to miss out on that.”
Here are three other cool things to know about Hannah and the CheeReaders:
She hearts the classics.
Her fave books as a kid were Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Love those!
Rah rah rah! It's a reading rally!
It’s not just about the books.
The CheeReaders recently held a cheer camp, staffed by pros—that was totally free for kids. Hannah hopes the campers will see how fun cheering is and hopes it’ll help ‘em stay out of trouble.
Cheer camp! Spirit sticks not shown.
Hannah is one smart cookie.
“One stereotype is that cheerleaders are dumb which is rarely true. There are probably some out there, but I’ve never met them,” Hannah shares. “We get to work in the community and bust that stereotype.”
All photos: PB and J Photography
Wanna get involved? Check out
cheereader.com to download a starter packet. Hannah told us the program works best with kindergarten through second grade students, so get in touch with local elementary school teachers!
BY KATIE ABBONDANZA ON 9/4/2009 7:00:00 AM
POSTED IN inner beauty