Franklin Primary School launched a new reading initiative that it hopes will catch on at other District 150 schools. The program "Real Men Read" aims to inspire literacy and leadership.
About 30 volunteers, including parents, community leaders and high school seniors, visited the school last week to read to K-5 classrooms. One of the readers was former Peoria County Circuit Judge Glenn Collier.
As Collier read, he asked his audience questions -- it helps holds their attention.
At one point, Collier shared his own story, unrelated to the book. He told the children about a time when he was a teenager and got in trouble with the law.
“I remember thinking, this isn’t the way I wanted to live my life," Collier said. "In fact, I’d like to be like the judge.”
Collier told the kids, he turned his life around. He focused on school. Went to college, law school, became a lawyer, and ultimately got his dream.
He says this is possible for any kid with a goal, and an interest in reading.
“It may seem simple but I think reading is the first step in trying to get a good education,” Collier said.
He adds, that would deter kids from engaging in criminal behavior. Collier says most of the felons he saw while he served on the bench didn’t continue school past 10th grade.
There’s another component of this program that’s essential. Collier is black, like many of the students he’s reading to.
“In their environment, they may not see such positive African American role models, I want them to be able to have somebody that looks exactly like them,” Franklin's library manager Lafelda Jones said. She organized the program.
She says it gives kids, particularly boys, a role model and a glimpse of the possibilities of life after school.
After the reading sessions, the volunteers met in the library for an informal conversation with 5th grade boys on dealing with anger and challenges at home.
Jones says she aims to bring the men back on a monthly basis and possibly, to other district schools.