Lake Area second graders celebrate Read for the Record Day.

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Second graders attempting to break a global reading record took over the Legacy Center today.

Rachel Garner, president of the Junior League of Lake Charles, emphasized the importance of promoting early literacy.

“When you think about kids in second grade reading this book with other kids, they realize this is important, so I’m going to keep reading,” Garner said.

Read for the Record is an annual initiative that promotes early literacy.

The Junior League of Lake Charles has participated in the celebration by reading in classrooms in past years, but this year, with the help of McNeese basketball head coach Will Wade and McNeese Athletics, they decided to go big and enroll 1,400 second graders to gather together at an event for a huge reading experience.

“This year we decided to hold a large-scale event where we would involve more people. We are so grateful to McNeese, CPSB for working with us and helping the event run smoothly,” said Tabitha Nicholas of the Junior League of Lake Charles.

This year’s book, “Piper Chen Sings,” focuses on the importance of conquering the butterflies in your stomach, a message that the Junior League believes is important for children to learn.

“It was critical to bring this mental health awareness component. “So we had student-athletes figure out when they get butterflies, and we gave some students some techniques to help them deal with that feeling,” Nicholas said.

All participating children received a copy of the book.

Over 19 years, more than 28 million people have participated in Read for the Record.

This year’s goal was for 2.3 million children worldwide to participate.

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