Laurence Manning Academy third-grade teacher Meg Martin received $500 to use in her classroom through the South Carolina Department of Education, which announced Monday the winners of the 2017 Read Your Way to the Big Game Contest. This was a reading competition that promoted literacy in schools through the University of South Carolina Gamecock and Clemson University Tiger athletic programs. According to the rules of the contest, all pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students who read six books qualified to win tickets to the Clemson v. South Carolina game held Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. Individual winners included Kennedy Middle School sixth-grade student Hannah Boetsch of Aiken County Public School District on the Gamecock side and Pine Street Elementary School fifth-grade student Ty'kerian Walker of Spartanburg School District 7 on the Clemson side. Both received four passes to Saturday's game.
The contest also included a school-wide participation component. Schools with at least 70 percent student participation were entered to win one of two $2,000 school library grants. Five participating teachers were also randomly selected to win $500 for their classrooms. Martin was one such recipient. Two teachers or media specialists who had the best-decorated bulletin board, wall or for, using the contest as a theme and who submitted photos were also selected for $500 each.
The winners of the school-wide included Chester Park School of Inquiry of the Chester County School District; Dacusville Elementary School of the School District of Pickens County; and Chester Park Center of Literacy of the Chester County School District.
The winners of the 2017 Read Your Way to the Big Game Decoration Contest included Gray Court-Owings School media specialist Michelle Spires of Laurence District 55 and Savannah Grove Elementary School media specialist Ary Grady of Florence Public School District 1.
