Two Goessel girls among state’s top readers

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 04 September 2012 14:04

Emily Flaming receives her reading certificate from Gov. Sam Brownback, wife Mary and WuShock, the Wichita State mascot.

Brooke Nafziger and her family visit the governor six days later in his office in Topeka.

Two students from Goessel Elementary School were ranked among the top 20 participants in the statewide Read Kansas Read summer reading program.

Emily Flaming, a third-grader this fall with a Hillsboro address, and Brooke Nafziger, a fifth-grader with a Canton address, were among the 20 readers and their families invited to join Gov. Sam Brownback and First Lady Mary Brownback for a picnic and celebration at the Cedar Crest mansion Aug. 18.

The Flaming family participated in the event. The Nafziger family was on vacation that day, but went to Topeka Aug. 24 instead.

The Read Kansas Read program was launched last May by the governor, the Kansas State Board of Education and the State Library of Kansas.

Students across Kansas spent the summer recording the books they read on their reading logs. On Aug. 1, more than 400 readers turned in their reading logs that listed more than 10,000 books read during the two month period.

Two K-12 students from each of the 10 Kansas State Board of Educa­tion districts who read the most number of books were invited to join the governor and first lady for the picnic.

“We were able to get two of them placed because the boundary is split through the Goessel district,” said John Fast, Goessel superintendent.

Both girls did their reading through the Goessel Public Library. Laura Dailey is the librarian.