MEDIA ADVISORY
Cal State L.A. joins ‘Cat in the Hat’ in sharing the joy of reading to local schoolchildren
Cal State L.A. celebrates Dr. Seuss’ 109th birthday in partnership with Read Across America
Los Angeles, CA – Go, readers, go! In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ 109th birthday, the Educational Participation in Communities (EPIC) program at Cal State L.A. encourages children at Anton Elementary School to “Grab your Hat and Read with the Cat.”
As part of the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America festivities, teams of CSULA students will present fun-filled special events and motivational activities to bring the joy of reading to the Anton Elementary schoolchildren on Friday, March 1, from 8 a.m.-12:50 p.m. The school is located at 831 N. Bonnie Beach Place in Los Angeles.
To motivate the kids to read, Cal State L.A.’s administrators will also don red-and-white striped stovepipe hats—just like the Cat’s—during the school’s book readings.
Throughout the year, 25 Cal State L.A. students tutor more than 300 children at four school sites through the University’s EPIC America Reads and Counts program.
Launched in 1998 to promote reading and literacy while celebrating the March 2, 1904, birthday of Dr. Seuss (the pseudonym of author Theodore Seuss Geisel), the NEA’s Read Across America has become a national tradition.
The goal is to show America’s children the joy of reading and build a nation of readers—on March 1 and every day. For more information NEA’s Read Across America, visit www.nea.org/readacross and www.readacrossamerica.org.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES
8-10:30 a.m. Groups of three CSULA student volunteers will read aloud a Dr. Suess book at various classrooms, and offer information about ”Being a College Student at Cal State L.A.”
10-11 a.m. CSULA’s Vice President for Student Affairs Tony Ross will read aloud “The Lorax” to 30-40 students from kindergarten through 2nd grade. CSULA’s EPIC America Reads and Counts tutors will present the following activities in the auditorium: “Recycling—Helping the Environment,” “Oh the Things You Can Do That Are Good for You!” and “Team Work.”
10-12:50 a.m. Twelve groups of CSULA students enrolled in Health and Human Services 101 course will present motivational and hands-on activities to individual classrooms as part of their community-based projects. Projects range from creative art activities to crime scene investigation scenarios.
11:05-12:05 p.m. CSULA’s EPIC America Reads and Counts tutors to present the following activities to 30-40 students from 3rd through 5th grade in the auditorium: “Recycling—Helping the Environment,” “Oh the Things You Can Do That Are Good for You!” and “Team Work.”
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 225,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu