RIT on TV News: Giant Read

WROC-TV (Channel 8) reports on a heart-warming community service project that features the generosity of student athletes and other members of the Rochester Institute of Technology campus community.

Anchors: Some student at RIT went back to elementary school today. And as News 8's Jason Frazer shows us, it's all for a good cause.

Reader: "Other cats like lions and tigers are wild."

"You just come for a little bit of time and it warms you up," says RIT Student Kevin Rattigan.

Reporter: For Rattigan, reading to these elementary school kids is more than just reading. He considers it part of his duty to building a stronger community.

"We ultimately are just trying to get these kids to know that we're here for them," says Rattigan.

Every year, more than 55 student athletes, coaches, and administrators from RIT gather at School Number Five for an event called Giant Read.

"They just gather some of the children in our gymnasium and they either read to them or the children read to RIT students and staff," says School Number Five Principal Joanne Wideman.

"We have a book called Amazing Tigers...We read it to them and they get to keep the book after," says Rattigan.

And it doesn't take long to see that the hour long event has a huge impact on what these kids learn.

"Baby tigers are called cubs. Daddy tigers don't stay with the mother tiger and their cubs too," says first grader Chan Aung.

"Our children need support. Not just from educators and the schools but it does take an entire community," says Wideman.

And the impact will be felt for years to come.

"It just goes to show that a little bit of my time goes a long way with these kids," says Rattigan.

Giant Read is part of a year long initiative by RIT that features weekly visits by students to classrooms and spring cleaning. Also, sixth graders get to visit the college.

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Education

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• Tigers