More than 3,500 Atlanta Public Schools (APS) elementary and middle school students were able to attend the Georgia Tech women’s basketball home opener at McCamish Pavilion as a reward for participating in the Georgia Tech Buzzer Readers Challenge.
The annual challenge from the Georgia Institute of Technology supports APS’ district wide Race to Read initiative of reading and logging 10 million minutes in a school year. From September through October, APS students in kindergarten through eighth grade logged their reading minutes into the Beanstack platform. Media specialists at each school submitted the classes and the students’ names who logged the most minutes during the challenge. The students with the most logged minutes were recognized on the court during halftime.
“Buzzer Readers is a partnership that we’ve had with the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team for at least 10 years,” APS Director of Library Media Services Jennifer Saunders said. “The premise behind all of this is helping our students find the joy of reading. We are providing students with extrinsic motivation so they can, in turn, develop an intrinsic motivation to read.”
Georgia Tech partners exclusively with APS for their Education Day game and looks forward to the energy the APS students bring to the game. The students filled the arena with energy and cheered throughout the entire game. They were excited to spend a day out of the building, visit a college campus, watch a college basketball game, and enjoy everything from the cheerleaders to the band.
“This was the first year we opened this experience to middle school students, and they were just as excited as our elementary students, so I’m so glad they had that opportunity,” Saunders said. “Taking them outside of the school buildings and outside of their communities to explore more of what Atlanta has to offer can be a source of inspiration for them as they begin to decide what it is they want to do with their lives.”
Through community partnerships, especially with the local sports community, APS encourages students to read by connecting literacy with their passions.
“We’re fostering a love of reading and providing resources that our students need to thrive on and off the court as we build lifelong learners for the future,” Saunders said. “I was glad APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson could be there to see the excitement that our students have and that we have some really strong readers. We are moving in the right direction with building the love of reading for many of our students.”
This year’s top Buzzer Readers are listed below:
| Highest Kindergarten | Peyton Forest Elementary School | 15,016 minutes |
| Highest Kindergarten Classroom | Ms. Danielle Clark (Peyton Forest ES) | 6,207 minutes |
| Highest Kindergarten Reader | Apollo Salazar (Brandon ES) | 1,240 minutes |
| Highest 1st Grade | Mary Lin Elementary School | 10,485 minutes |
| Highest 1st Grade Classroom | Ms. Mary Gliunt (Mary Lin ES) | 5,081 minutes |
| Highest 1st Grade Reader | Flynn Allen (Toomer ES) | 1,515 minutes |
| Highest 2nd Grade | Mary Lin Elementary School | 13,479 minutes |
| Highest 2nd Grade Classroom | Ms. Angel Nguyen (F.L. Stanton ES) | 8,665 minutes |
| Highest 2nd Grade Reader | Simon Gutierrez Strieter Mary Lin ES) | 2,031 minutes |
| Highest 3rd Grade | Miles Elementary School | 20,816 minutes |
| Highest 3rd Grade Classroom | Ms. Lockett Brown (Miles ES) | 10,662 minutes |
| Highest 3rd Grade Reader | Selma Hedin (Mary Lin ES) | 2,238 minutes |
| Highest 4th Grade | Mary Lin Elementary School | 25,104 minutes |
| Highest 4th Grade Classroom | Harli Gottesman (Mary Lin ES) | 11,109 minutes |
| Highest 4th Grade Reader | Giovonni Seats-Finch Elementary School | 3,610 minutes |
| Highest 5th Grade | Mary Lin Elementary School | 15,358 minutes |
| Highest 5th Grade Classroom | Redding (Mary Lin ES) | 36.202 minutes |
| Highest 5th Grade Reader | Caleb Price (Mary Lin ES) | 1,745 minutes |
| Overall Elementary School | Mary Lin Elementary School | 85,635 minutes |
| Highest Elementary School Reader | Giovonni Seats- Finch Elementary School | 3,610 minutes |
| Highest 6th Grade | Jean Childs Young Middle School | 40,466 minutes |
| Highest 6th Grade Classroom | Sydney Carthan (Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy) | 19,967 minutes |
| Highest 6th Grade Reader | Habibah Jones (Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy) | 2,648 minutes |
| Highest 7th Grade | Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy | 42,195 minutes |
| Highest 7th Grade Classroom | Chiquita Mathis (Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy) | 29,301 minutes |
| Highest 7th Grade Reader | Lindic Collier (Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy) | 2,700 minutes |
| Highest 8th Grade | Charles R. Drew Charter School Junior Academy | 6,238 minutes |
| Highest 8th Grade Classroom | Ms. Hansberry (Sylvan Middle School) | |
| Highest 8th Grade Reader | Alexandra Ghizoni (Sutton Middle School) | 1,304 minutes |