By Dan Sullivan
Catholic Herald

Students meet goal, dye priests' hair

LADYSMITH -- Fr. John Anderson, pastor, and Fr. Ryan Erickson, associate pastor, at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Ladysmith, kept their ends of a bargain they made with the children of the parish school.

On the morning of May 27 they paced anxiously in the school's gymnasium prior to having their hair dyed blue and gold, the school's colors. The priests had accepted the challenge to submit to the coloring if the students gained 2,500 points for reading books.

"I think it's good that they did all that reading," Anderson said. "It is a good cause to do it for, to have them read more books and do more reading."

Anderson said that during his priestly ministry he has done a number of activities to support Catholic education, but this was the most extreme. "I rode a donkey at (St. Joseph School in) Rice Lake, but coloring hair was not something I thought of."

Erickson agreed it was for a good cause. "These kids deserve a little fun and it's good for them to see that the priests support them at Our Lady of Sorrows," he said. "We are showing them that we are part of a community here and can take a good joke every now and again."

For this reading project students not only read books, but were quizzed on them through the Accelerated Reading Computer Program. Jennifer Titera, the school's physical education teacher, organized the reading event and helped obtain the funds to purchase this specialized program.

Titera's two children transferred into the Catholic school this year and her son, who is in second grade, had used the computer program at the public school.

"I saw the incredible benefits of the program," Titera said. "I thought it would benefit the kids in this school."

The computer program gives teachers an idea that the students understood what they had read. "In reading class the teacher can monitor the students' reading, but there really has been no measure if the kids understand the books they read by themselves," Titera said." This program individualizes student learning and student reading."

Titera said, "It checks understanding, each book was worth a different amount of points, depending on what level book it was. ... The great part about this program is that if you are struggling in reading you can select a book at a lower level. If you are an awesome reader you can select a higher level book. It permits students to read at their own level and allows each student to be successful."

As an educator, Titera realizes the importance of reading. "I have always thought reading is the foundation for anything you are going to do in life," she said."If you aren't a good reader, it can hinder where you will go in life."

Since February, students have been reading with a goal of collecting 2,500 points by the end of the school year. "We passed our goal by 214 points," Titera said.

The two top point achievers, sixth-grader Robert Baumel and eighth-grader Alaina Guns, had the honor of dying the priests hair in front of the student body.

With shouts of "Mohawk!" echoing in the gymnasium, the two students used a coloring style glue to work their hair style magic on the clerics.

Baumel and Guns enjoyed the opportunity to dye the priests' hair. "It's not something you see every day," Baumel said." I read a whole bunch. Reading is fun, science fiction is my favorite."

Guns, who accumulated an estimated 260 points, said Harry Potter books are her favorite reading material. "I read those all the time, they received a lot of points," she said. "I like reading because you can go places and be in another world by reading books."

Our Lady of Sorrows School principal Tami Stewart credited Titera for making this reading effort work and applauded the work of the students for reaching the goal.

"She was the one who got the program going," Stewart said." It's been good for the school and was a great incentive for the kids. It's new to our school, the kids are excited about it and they like taking the test on the computer."

The school received a helping hand from the parish and Ladysmith community to expand its library collection. "We had several books here, but we had books donated and received money to buy books," Stewart said. "The whole reading program has been funded through donations. There is not anything that came out of the school budget."

Stewart also praised the support received from the priests. "They are good sports," she said. "They're both very supportive of the school. It gave the kids the extra incentive to really want to meet the goal. To get the priests to dye their hair was a pretty big thing."

To reward students for their reading achievements various awards were handed out and they were treated to an ice cream social.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2004