U.S. Army Garrison Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL) Soldiers and civil service employees read to more than 150 students at the San Antonio Elementary School in Lockwood, California for ‘Read Across America (RAA),’ March 1, 2024.
FHL participates in this annual event and this year’s volunteers were: Army Chaplain, Maj. Todd Golden, 1st Sgt. Andy Neal, Sgt. 1st Class Ebony Mathis, Federal Police Officers Todd Sullivan and David Miller, and Federal Firefighter Clayton Gardner who read and educated students on their respective jobs.
Read Across America is a national campaign promoting literacy and celebrates the March 2nd birthday of author Theodor Suess Geisel, writer, illustrator and cartoonist of more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Suess (Geisel is his mother’s maiden name). He penned books such as ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ ‘Green Eggs and Ham,’ ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ ‘Fox in Socks,’ and ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ to name a few.
“The San Antonio, San Ardo and San Lucas Unified School districts joined forces with their Kindergartner through fourth grade students for today’s Read Across America,” said San Antonio Superintendent and Principal Amy Sweet. “San Antonio Valley school was also invited but could not attend due to a scheduling conflict. All-in-all, I believe that we had an excellent turnout today.”
1st Sgt. Neal read ‘How do You do’ by Theodor Suess Geisel (Dr. Seuss) .
“I wish he had read ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ said a second-grade girl as she left the reading. “I’ve watched that movie many times and it’s one of my favorite movies. I could watch that movie every day and still laugh about it.”
Chaplain Golden read a collection of different stories to each group of children that visited with him. One such story was entitled ‘Miss Nelson is Missing.’
“That was one strange story that I won’t forget for a long time. How does a teacher go missing and then reappear? That’s never happened to any of my teachers,” a fourth-grade girl said. “I didn’t understand that plot until the very end. I’ve gotta tell that story to my parents so I remember how it goes.”
Federal Police Officer David Miller drove his official police vehicle to the event and was quite a big hit.
“I truly thank all of the personnel from Fort Hunter Liggett, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife who came out in support of our children and Read Across America,” said Sweet. “It’s always special when our community service partners can come and interact with the students; some of which may be their own children.”
Both FHL and the participating elementary schools are in the San Antonio Valley of Central , and many students have parents working at FHL.
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