Our EES 2nd and 3rd Grade students spent the afternoon reading with our EHS student-athletes. EES was sent 1,000 Hog Mollies books from the 2nd and 7 Foundation. The themes in these books reiterate valuable life lessons. The mission of the 2nd and 7 Foundation is to promote reading by providing free books and positive role models to kids in need while encouraging young athletes within the community to pay it forward. Over a dozen EHS student-athletes participated in this special project. At the end of the day, each Little Cougar was given a book to take home. It was a great opportunity to remind all our kids how important it is to read as well as celebrate National Read Across America Day!
The 2nd and 7 Foundation was started in 1999 by three former Ohio State Buckeye football players—Ryan Miller, Luke Fickell, and Mike Vrabel. Inspired by their involvement in various community outreach programs as student-athletes, they decided to continue to make a difference by promoting literacy and providing positive role models for children in central Ohio. Over the past 20 years, the program has grown to 180 communities in 26 states. The “Tackling Illiteracy” program encourages student-athletes from universities and high schools across the nation to participate in weekly readings in second-grade classrooms. While in the classrooms, they are reading to the kids, passing out FREE books for the kids to take home and reminding the kids why it is so important to read. The 2nd and 7 Foundation created a book series called the Hog Mollies; each book teaches valuable life lessons. In 2020, we will be releasing the 13th book in the series!