Linwood students read a total 18,000 minutes and raised $2,000 during the “Love Our School Today Get Lost in a Book Read-A-Thon.”
Linwood Elementary has adopted a mantra. “Be of service” is the message that has been promoted to the students all year long. Three students in particular have taken those words to heart in a big way.
“Basically what we are saying is that if you can do something to help the school or other students, then do it,” Principal Jim Caldwell said. “We told the kids that if you have ideas, bring them to us. Just after Christmas, three young ladies came to me with a phenomenal idea.”
Fourth-grade students Sydney Wiener and Ava Saxe were lying in a snowbank during recess when they had a thought about the “be of service” message that they heard repeated time and again. The friends were bummed out about the lack of good quality gym balls and also wished for new books for the library. They enlisted the help of fellow fourth-grader Bella Hese, and the trio created the “Love Our School Today Get Lost in a Book Read-A-Thon.”
After conferring with Sydney’s parent-teacher association member mother about the plan, the group brought the idea to Caldwell. That initial meeting led to several mornings in Caldwell’s office brainstorming the logistics of the read-a-thon.
“These girls are always on top of everything,” teacher Kathy Dow said. “They are really good students and positive role models in the classroom, and I am very proud of them. The fact that they came up with this idea to help the school doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Sydney, Ava and Bella had a goal to get more kids reading and to raise some money for the school. They approached the PTA to get support to purchase prizes for the students who read the most minutes during the read-a-thon. They spent time every morning giving announcements over the loud speaker encouraging students to participate. They solicited pledges for numbers of minutes read. In total, students read 18,000 minutes, and $2,000 was raised for gym equipment, new books and technology upgrades. 
“This is what it is all about,” Caldwell said. “This is a prime example of students following through with ideas. We never would have thought of this on our own had they not brought it to our attention.”
The students spoke about their read-a-thon at the March 26 meeting of the Forest Lake Area School Board. They were praised by Board President Rob Rapheal.
“On behalf of this board, I want to thank you, and I want to say that all of us up here have found that the more we turn our wills towards making the community better, the better we feel about ourselves,” he said. “It is a great thing that you are leaving a lasting legacy. Not only have you helped kids now, but the new equipment and books that will be purchased will be a great help to future generations of students as well.”