Students at Friendship Elementary earn visit from high-energy mascot
The Phillie Phanatic demonstrates some of his dance moves during an assembly at Friendship Elementary School.
Friendship Coatesville elementary students recently learned the value of being reading fanatics: a visit from the Philadelphia Phillies’ beloved, green, furry mascot.
Thanks to the efforts of student’s in Kimberly Stracinski’s third-grade class at Friendship Elementary, the school won an assembly through the Phillies’ “Be a Phanatic About Reading” program, which involved about 100,000 students in the region. Only the top performers receive a visit, said a school district news release.
The school’s March 8 assembly celebrated the students’ reading achievements as the Phillie Phanatic acted out scenes from Phillie Phanatic’s Galapagos Island Adventure, featured in the Phanatic Children’s Book Series. He also demonstrated his latest, craziest, crowd-pleasing dance moves.
Since the “Be a Phanatic About Reading” initiative began in 2004, over 250 schools and recreation centers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware have received assemblies, the release said, adding that the program was created to encourage children in kindergarten through 8th grade to improve their literacy skills by reading for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.
