Reading idols

By Bridget Cook
MELBOURNE Football Club player James Strauss was welcomed by students from Thomas Mitchell Primary School in Endeavour Hills.
As part of the Read and Write Like a Demon literacy program, Demon player James spoke to students and participated in a footy clinic on Friday 30 July.
The program is a partnership between the Melbourne Football Club and the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation.
It offers primary aged students the opportunity to take part in various reading and writing workshops, receive visits from Demon players and popular children’s book authors, and have the opportunity to share reading and writing experiences as a part of the programs blog.
Casey Cardinia Library Corporation Community Engagement librarian Cenza Fulco said James spoke to students about books and reading and shared stories of books that he remembers from his own childhood and books that he was currently reading.
“The success of the program in 2009 and 2010 has been the involvement of the players as reading role models to encourage students to read for school and for fun,” she said.
Other Melbourne Football Club players visited a number of other schools around Casey including Cranbourne Primary School, St Agatha’s Primary School, St Michael’s Catholic Primary School, Mary MacKillop Primary School, Maramba Primary School, Cranbourne Park Primary School and Fleetwood Primary School.