CLEVELAND — For more than 6,000 third-grade students in Northeast Ohio, the road to the 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four Tournament in Cleveland is paved with books.
“We had partnerships with local school districts, and all of our school districts told us that nationally there's a literacy crisis,” says Victor Hill, the associate director for NCAA community engagement. “Children are not reading enough; they're falling behind, and it's associated with why the graduation rates are going down in high school.”
Hill, who is a Cleveland native, returned to his hometown to promote the NCAA’s Read to the Final Four annual literacy challenge.
“The goal is to get children to read at least 30 minutes a day,” Hill explains. “And then for our competition, which is set up like our March Madness competition, the schools get a chance to compete against each other to see which schools collectively can read the most minutes."
Students from 117 schools in 12 Northeast Ohio counties are participating in the competition, which started in early December.
The top 68 schools logging the most reading minutes will earn a spot on the Read to the Final Four bracket that will be announced in January.
The top four classes to log the most minutes by the end of the reading tournament will win a field trip to Fan Fest, Tourney Town during the Women’s Final Four competition in early April.
“We go after these events because they effect change in the community,” says Monica Gustin, Vice President of Business Development at the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
Both Gustin and Hill visited a 3rd grade classroom at Mary Church Terrell School on Cleveland’s west side Wednesday. The class is participating in Read to the Final Four and got a chance to touch a replica championship trophy and listen to Hill read a story.
“Walking in that classroom and just seeing the excitement for us being there for Read to the Final Four, having them look at the trophy … that's why we love hosting events like this in Cleveland,” Gustin adds.
Created in 2016, the Read to the Final Four reading challenge targets third graders in each state where the NCAA’s Final Four tournaments are held.
“I think it's wonderful that we are not only just promoting sports, but we are also promoting an education as well,” says Samantha Prince, the principal at Mary Church Terrell School. “It’s a great opportunity and we’re excited to see how many books and minutes we can log reading.”