HCS Students Outpace Nation in READMarathon

  • November 17, 2022

    In September, we shared about the 1,000 HCS elementary students who were MVPs in this summer’s READCamp, sponsored by Malcolm Mitchell (author and former wide receiver for the New England Patriots) and his Share the Magic Foundation.

    From October 11 through November 6, over 28,000 HCS students from pre-K through eighth grade participated in another of Mitchell’s events, READMarathon

    According to Share the Magic, READMarathon is a 26.2-day challenge (like a marathon’s 26.2-mile length) that builds students’ reading stamina by capturing the fun and excitement of a running marathon and motivating kids to “read the distance” and set new personal reading records. Students can complete three tiers of reading achievement: the “10k” by reading for 400 minutes, the “half-marathon” by reading for 800 minutes, and the “full marathon” by reading for 1,600 minutes. 

    A total of 1,950 HCS students completed the full reading marathon, meaning each read an average of just over an hour for every day of the challenge. Many more students completed the half-marathon, which required an average of just over a half-hour of reading each day.

    HCS students logged a total of almost 19 million minutes of reading during the challenge. If one person wanted to read for that many minutes, it would take about 36 years of nonstop reading! That’s an average of roughly 675 minutes of reading per student for the length of the challenge, or an average of over 25 minutes of reading per student each day of the challenge. According to Share the Magic, HCS students’ total reading time beats the rest of the country combined.

    HCS had a whopping 88% of its pre-K through eighth-grade students participate in the event. Share the Magic said that HCS students’ participation rate beat the national average by over 13 percentage points. According to Share the Magic, roughly 52,000 students participated in the event nationally, so over half of the program’s participants were HCS students.

  • “I'm so proud of... but not surprised by ... the performance of HCS students in READMarathon,” said Mitchell. “My foundation and I look forward to seeing more success and achievement from HCS and furthering a model for district-wide success in all areas of the country. HCS is a great example of how to do it.”

    Watch this video of Carolina Forest Elementary students achieving their READMarathon goals.

    HCS students are looking forward to participating in Mitchell’s next event, the READBowl. This four-week-long, Superbowl-themed event will begin on January 9, and Mitchell will announce the results on the day of the Superbowl, February 12.

ReadMarathon Graphic