Students at Rashkis Elementary School gathered on Wednesday to hear from special guests encouraging them to read.

About 100 eager third graders filed into the library at Rashkis for a special guest reading to cheer on the students during the read-a-thon going on at the school.

Marcus Paige and David Fountain with students. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Marcus Paige and David Fountain with students. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Duke Energy North Carolina president David Fountain was joined by senior Tar Heel basketball player Marcus Paige to read to the students. Fountain and Paige read ‘Salt in His Shoes’ about the struggles of a young man who turned out to be legendary Tar Heel basketball player Michael Jordan.

Paige spoke to the third graders about the importance of reading.

“My mom is an English teacher in high school,” Paige told the students. “So she always made me read, ever since I was you guys’ age.”

He told the students that he knew the teachers were asking the students to read as part of the read-a-thon, but added he hoped they would learn to enjoy reading.

“Reading is basically the foundation of your entire education,” Paige told the eager listeners. “When you get to college, you read a lot of books and a lot of articles and a lot of journals. And if you enjoy it, it makes it a lot easier and it makes you able to get more information from what you read.”

The event was part of Duke Energy Reading Days to promote childhood literacy. Duke’s North Carolina president David Fountain said the utility felt this was an important area to emphasize.

“Duke Energy has long been a supporter of education in North Carolina,” Fountain said. “And we feel like it’s particularly important for young students to be able to have the skills to succeed later in life.

“And that’s why we focused on early reading as an area that we wanted to support.”

Rameses

Rameses with students. Photo via Blake Hodge.

While the students were certainly happy to see Paige, the Tar Heel basketball star, there was no doubt he finished second as the most popular person to the third graders behind UNC mascot Rameses.

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