Victoria Sykes, community development coordinator at Huguley Memorial Medical Center, reads to Thelma Hernandez s third-grade class at Elementary North. (Tommy Brown/AlvaradoISD)
More than 20 community leaders and volunteers flooded classrooms at Alvarado Elementary North Friday for the school's annual Indian Friend Reading Day.

The program, which is in its fourth year, brings in leaders in the Alvarado community to read to individual classes.

Through the Indian Friends Reading Day program, each class in the school has a reader. Readers at North included Mayor Dewayne Richters, police chief Brad Anderson, representatives from the fire department and various other community leaders.

“It's so important for students to see the value of reading and to have adults share the importance of learning to read,” AEN principal LouAnne Stevens said. “Our community leaders were
Alvarado Police Chief Brad Anderson reads to a story Ashley Shumaker s kindergarten class at Alvarado Elementary North as part of the school s Indian Friend Reading Day. (Tommy Brown/Alvarado ISD)
great examples as they took time to come, read and demonstrate their own love of the written word.”

Each class has up to 45 minutes to spend with the reader so the students can also learn what it is the person does in the community.
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