Volunteers from Georgia Perimeter College’s Decatur and Newton campuses brought the joy of reading to local elementary schools in celebration of Read Across America.

Read Across America is a National Education Association effort to encourage reading among elementary school students. The day is usually observed on March 2, in celebration of the birthday of Theodore Geisel, aka, Dr. Seuss.

At Newton Campus, members of the Student Life, Library and Humanities departments donated more than 70 books to the library of the county’s Theme School at Fiquett. Staff and students, along with Jaggy, GPC’s mascot, delivered the books to the school on Feb. 27.

Then the kindergarten class enjoyed a reading of Dr. Seuss’s classic books, “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax,” by GPC student volunteers Sidra Ashraf and Carli Alexandra. Afterward, the elementary school students received GPC pencils and pendants.

On March 2, Decatur Campus, students, faculty and staff donated more than 200 books to students at Cedar Grove Elementary School in DeKalb County as part of their campuswide Read Across America project. Forty students, faculty and staff volunteered for the event by collecting and sorting books, as well as reading to students at the school.

The Cedar Grove students also enjoyed a special appearance by Jaggy. The event was sponsored by Student Life, the Decatur Learning and Tutoring Center, Decatur Library, JAG, GPC Reads, the Decatur Honors students and the reading and teacher education faculty.