ASHLAND, Ky., November 15, 2018 – Kentucky Power employees are celebrating Read to Me Day this week by reading a book aloud with students at 23 schools in seven eastern Kentucky counties.
Thirty volunteer readers read “Rosie Revere, Engineer” by Andrea Beaty to nearly 1,600 students. It is a story about a young girl who dreams of becoming a great engineer. Through lots of trial and error, Rosie learns that you can only truly fail if you quit. Readers visit two or more classrooms at each school, and then donate a hardcopy of the book to the school library.
The company began its Read to Me Day program in Kentucky in 2003. Since that first day, Kentucky Power has donated thousands of books to schools and read aloud to thousands of students. This year, the event was scheduled during American Education Week with readings taking place Wednesday through Friday at participating schools.
“Students in the Lawrence County School System have received several benefits through our partnership with Ashland Community and Technical and the American Electric Power Foundation,” Lawrence Supt. Robbie Fletcher said. “Specifically, the Credits Count grant has provided funding for more dual credit options for our high school students (at no charge) and for more STEM educational opportunities for our middle school students.”
“Students are now graduating from high school with more college credit hours and more exposure to STEM fields than ever before. We are very thankful for these four years and hopeful that this partnership will continue for many years to come.”
“Our Read to Me Day school partnership is a great way for our employees to be involved in communities where they live and work,” said Kentucky Power President Matt Satterwhite. “It also provides an opportunity for us to emphasize the important role that reading plays in education and careers our children may choose in the future.”
Each year, Kentucky Power employees rotate schools from year to year to reach schools in the 20 counties served by Kentucky Power. This year’s elementary schools were in Carter, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Morgan, Perry and Pike counties. They included: Olive Hill, Louisa East, Wrigley Elementary, Belfry Elementary, Bevins Elementary, Louisa West, Mary Jane Potter, Leatherwood, West Perry, Salyersville, Pikeville, Star, Blaine, East Perry, R.W. Combs, North Magoffin, East Valley, Ezel, Morgan Central, Dorton, Feds Creek, Millard School, and Phelps. School visits on Friday are the last Read to Me activities for 2018.
“At first, I was a bit nervous to read aloud but it is so much fun,” said Trisha Blum, a first time Kentucky Power reader at Louisa East Elementary in Lawrence County. “The kids loved the book and invited me to come back for career day.”
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Kentucky Power, with headquarters in Ashland, provides service to about 168,000 customers in all or part of 20 eastern Kentucky counties, including Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Martin, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike and Rowan. Kentucky Power is an operating company in the American Electric Power system, one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system. AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
