'Exceptional Readers' Honored At Readers Are Leaders Ceremony

Borough President Vito Fossella honored this year’s “Super Readers” at the annual Readers Are Leaders ceremony at the Joan & Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center of Staten Island.

Readers Are Leaders, now in its 29th year, challenged fourth-grade students in Staten Island's public, parochial and private schools to read a minimum of five books at grade level or above in five weeks. 

Students then submitted a report or project on their favorite book they read during the period. Each school picked one super reader, who was honored as an “Exceptional Reader” by Borough President Fossella.

“You all deserve a wonderful round of applause,” said Borough President Fossella. “I’d also like to thank the teachers -- we can’t do it without the teachers.”

Each honoree received a gift card to Barnes & Noble and tickets to a special Readers Are Leaders Staten Island FerryHawks game.

The program was started by then-Councilman Vito Fossella in 1996 and was later picked up by Borough Hall. Since its inception, our fourth-grade students have read nearly 800,000 books for the annual challenge -- or more than 29 billion words!

Borough President Fossella noted there were no iPhones and few people knew about the Internet when Readers Are Leaders began.

“The one thing that has not changed in 29 years, the one thing that will never change, is the importance of reading as a foundation for our success,” said Borough President Fossella. “Even if you only read a few pages a day, that’s progress. So, congratulations to all of you for being ‘exceptional readers.’”

Our thanks to the Staten Island FerryHawks and Community Media of Staten Island for sponsoring this year’s Readers Are Leaders Challenge.

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