Literacy fair stresses reading importance

  • Published
  • By Airman Daniel Snider
  • 23 Wing/Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Reading is an essential skill to being a functioning adult in this modern age. Whether it's reading road-signs or the ingredients label of food, at some point in time, everyone needs to read.

To emphasize the importance of reading, the Moody Air Force Base Education center hosted a literacy fair, Feb. 23, here.

"It's very important to read," said Mary Preston, local college student. "Reading can take you on a journey and it opens the doors to many things."

During the two hour event, students from a local college set up a variety of displays that represented stories from books they have read. The event, themed 'Reading is FUNdamental,' stressed the importance of reading.

"In this [southern region of the U.S.], the literacy rate is very low," said Gerri Pope, local college English instructor. "People are missing that wonderful opportunity to use their imagination and critical reading and critical thinking skills are very low. Reading improves all of that. We're all aware of that and I think that we certainly do whatever we can to encourage children and young teenagers to read."

In order to help with the literacy rate, participants hope that the literacy fair will catch the children's interest and help them get a head start on reading.

"That's why there are fun activities that go along with the stories," said Pope. "We had story time and games for the children to play. All the refreshments had creative names too. We hope to spark some curiosity in the children and give us a chance to share the story in [another] way."

Along with the festivities, the event also stressed that reading just a little each day will strengthen other skills.

"Writing and reading skills improve with reading," said Pope. "We get our ideas for writing from reading other people's writings. I tell my students that you should read something every day and if you're a poor reader or if you hate reading, I think you should at least read the newspaper every day."

The success of the event has participants excited for the potential of more frequent literacy fairs.

"My favorite part of the literacy fair was helping the kids to understand and maybe exposing them to something that they didn't know," said Preston. "It seemed like the children enjoyed it, and it seemed like the students enjoyed displaying it. It's kind of a fun way to share your knowledge."