Coming off a 38-7 victory last week over West Virginia Wesleyan, East Tennessee State University’s football program and Harold McCormick Elementary School were able to push across the goal line for another win – of sorts.
The ‘Bucs joined together with Harold McCormick staff and students for the first ever “Bucs and Books” Family Reading Night Monday evening to promote family involvement within the school, much to the joy of students, family and faculty alike.
“We’re blue and yellow here at Harold McCormick, they’ve got their blue and yellow on … it just comes together,” Harold McCormick Elementary Principal Eric Wampler said with a smile.
Harold McCormick has had parent involvement nights in the past, but tieing in the ‘Bucs was a no-brainer for this year’s event, Wampler said.
“We’ve had parent involvement nights in the past but this is the first time we’ve had the chance to partner with ETSU,” he said. “This is huge for me, personally, because ETSU is the reason why I’m here in Elizabethton. I came to this area to attend ETSU and now I couldn’t leave here even if I wanted to. This is such a special area and Elizabethton has been great to me. Having these football players in here, having the football program come back to life, having our own students going over there trying to get a spot on the team … this is a big deal and we appreciate coming over to be a stakeholder here in Harold McCormick and partnering with us for our students.
“We do these once or twice a year,” he continued. “This is an effort by us to get the parents in the building so we can answer questions, give out information and form a relationship with them. We want to create an environment where they’re comfortable meeting with us so we can all work together to education the children of our area.”
Wampler also credited the work of Carla Whiles and Penny Nave for making Monday night a reality.
While Nave and Whiles set the stage, the ‘Bucs knew how to respond. Vincent Lowe, Alex Rios, Merrick Mullins, Hank Black, Royce Turnbull, Toy’Shuan Winton and Greg McCloud each read a children’s books to the different grades of students throughout the evening.
“With ETSU, we’re here with the football program but we also represent the institution itself as an educational base,” ETSU Director of Football Operations Andrew Sims said. “Being able to make an influence on some of these kids so that down the line they’ll pay attention to reading more or even be an inspiration to them for college is always great. We want to take part in these kind of events and try to get out in the community as much as possible to represent our school and our team.”
After students finished with their reading sessions, refreshments were offered while attendees had the chance to participate in different activities.
Wampler added that Monday’s event was the largest family involvement night the school has seen, and thanked the parents and students for coming out to make the event a success.