Oct. 17, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State student-athletes will be visiting Oakdale Elementary School in Normal, Ill., on Thursday, October 20, taking part in the State Farm/Missouri Valley Conference's community outreach program "Just Read!"
Redbird student-athletes will be reading to elementary school at Oakdale Elementary School (601 S. Adelaide) from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.
Thursday's event will be the second time this school year that Illinois State has participated in "Just Read!", as ISU student-athletes read to Parkside Elementary School students on September 28.
In November of 1998, the Missouri Valley Conference began a community outreach program called "Just Read!" The program, which is co-sponsored by State Farm Insurance, had Missouri Valley Conference student-athletes visiting local elementary schools, reading books and relating the importance that reading has made to their lives. The program is very successful, and video segments from each Missouri Valley Conference visit are aired during the league's basketball television package.
Each Valley institution schedules "Just Read!" visits to elementary schools in their communities periodically throughout the academic year.
For more information regarding Illinois State's visit to Oakdale Elementary School, contact Illinois State University's Jane Fulton at 309/438-2750. For more information regarding the "Just Read!" program, contact Jack R. Watkins -- 314/421-0339, ext. 327 -- or Mary Mulvenna -- 314/421-0339, ext. 318 -- of the Missouri Valley Conference staff.
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