Are you looking for a children’s educational program that can make an impact in your community?
Blue Verve Principal Mike Zizzo created the Speeding To Read program for Texas Motor Speedway with one pilot school and transformed the vision into an award-winning concept. His vision for an elementary school educational program was spurred by the alarming statistic that students who were not proficient in reading by the third grade were four times likelier to drop out of school at some point during their education.
It also was a vessel to introduce children to a sport they may have been unfamiliar with as compared to traditional stick-and-ball sports and local professional teams. It also was an opportunity to introduce children to the world of motorsports, which included race tickets, merchandise and special visits and encouragement from the stars of the sport.
The school year-long competition used guidelines that were developed through annual collaboration with district and school administrators to complement their current curriculum while becoming an impactful addition. Champions were crowned in the individual grades, classrooms and the schools overall to promote teamwork toward a common goal.
Speeding To Read became one of the largest and impactful reading programs in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and was named “Best Youth Marketing Initiative” by the NASCAR industry. The program also was a two-time nominee by the NASCAR community for the Comcast Community Champion Award. The program also drew prominent local and national coverage for its accomplishments.
“You can see them happy and the classrooms getting extremely excited that they won and at the same time they are learning a lot. They’re becoming smarter; they’re committed to become somebody in life. It’s really cool what this program has accomplished.” – INDYCAR champion and Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan (below left).
While it began as strictly a reading program, the overall success and reach of Speeding To Read led to additional STEM and art-related programs being added to expand its curriculum and further enrich elementary school students.
It also led to the addition of several sponsors that were interested in being part of an impactful youth educational program and helping offset operating costs.
The program can be as large or as small as you would like – Speeding To Read had a record 21 schools and more than 6,000 students in the 2017-18 school year – and tailored to your audience and objectives.
The program itself can remain vibrant regardless of the theme and Blue Verve Public Relations already has built models incorporating other sports as well as one specific to colleges and introducing young students to your school of future education.
Let us know if you are interested in discussing or developing a program to impact your community today!