Easton Stick reads to a classroom at Westside Elementary School
Freshmen football players Easton Stick, Jaylaan Wimbush, Blake Williams, Aaron Steidl and sophomore Nate Tanguay visited Westside Elementary School in West Fargo this spring to meet with students and read to several classrooms.
“They look forward to seeing them every year,” said third-grade teacher Jenna Farkas explaining her students’ reaction to having the Bison football players in the classroom. “They look up to them as role models. We had some kids that brought in things like footballs for them to sign or some of them would wear their NDSU jerseys and want them to sign those.”
March was Reading Month at Westside Elementary and for the past four years, with the help of NDSU Athletics, the school welcomes Bison football players to spend 20 minutes in various classrooms speaking and reading to young Bison fans.
“For some of the kids, it means everything to them,” Farkas said. “Some of the football players that came today were so amazing at how they read and to see the kids’ faces light up. When they started reading it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, they can read.’ Everything we’ve been doing in the classroom that’s what they see in those football players.”[/text_output]
