MC Choctaws Football Players Join Read Across America

Mississippi College football players tackled a new assignment Wednesday morning as participants in Read Across America, a day to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

Adding to the fun at Clinton Park Elementary, assistant football coach Renard Ellis got the opportunity to read to first-graders in Regina Blackman’s classroom. He loved every moment and so did the 21 kids in the room.

“It was different,” Ellis said after finishing the book “All the Places You Will Go,” and getting a rousing reception from the young students. “It’s a good thing to give back.”

As a Choctaws football player in NCAA Division III ranks, Ellis earned first-team All-American honors by the American Football Coaches Association, was an All-American in the American Southwest Conference and with D3football.com. In his senior year, he had 58 receptions for 748 yards and eight touchdowns.

Now an assistant football coach for tight ends and an MBA student at Mississippi College, Ellis introduced some of the players to the first graders.

Showing up in their Choctaws uniforms and adding a little excitement to the reading event were MC tackle Justin Cardwell of Birmingham, linebacker Dallas Bogle of Crystal Lake, Illinois, and receiver Randal Pharr of Memphis.

MC university news coordinator Andy Kanengiser made a return visit to Clinton Park Elementary to read one of his Dr. Seuss favorites “The Cat in the Hat,” penned in 1957. Getting back in the Clinton classroom was “a rewarding experience and definitely made my day,” Kanengiser said. “Seeing the kids’ smiling faces and interest in this classic tale was well worth the trip.”

Blackman handed a hefty thank-you card to the readers that was signed by each of her students.

“We thoroughly enjoyed it. This added to our celebration,” Blackman said. “This will inspire our girls and boys to be great readers.”

Around the nation, First Lady Michelle Obama was among the star-studded lineup of Read Across America readers. Other readers included  Green Bay Packers star receiver and Super Bowl champ Donald Driver, a former Alcorn State standout,  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and NBC reporters Norah O’Donnell and Luke Russert.

Across the USA, the National Education Association calls for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult on March 2. Celebrations of reading took place in schools, libraries and community centers all over America.