Reading Capital

The summer opening included special musical guests Austin Kilby and Stephanie Davis and dancer James Mann. The center opened Tuesday at 11 a.m., and the kickoff and entertainment started at noon. Included on the agenda was a singalong with Ricki Reader, the program mascot, as everyone sang the Reading Capital song, written by Vann Thornton.
Stephanie Davis, a rising senior at Tift County High, sings and plays guitar (as Ricki Reader listens in background) at the Summer Accelerated Reader Center opening on June 9.
Davis is the daughter of Randy and Melinda Davis of Tifton. She is a rising senior at Tift County High School, where she is a member of the Eighth Street Singing Company. She is a member of the praise and worship team at her church, Grace United Methodist.

ABAC student and local singer Austin Kilby, left, performs for the Center's opening as a young reader inside the center peeks through the window.
Kilby is a business major at ABAC, and is the son of James Kilby. He has owned his own business, Kilby Entertainment, for almost four years, and sings at numerous community events. Kilby is currently writing and recording his own music, which is being shopped around New York to various producers.

Laura Pritchett, AR Center volunteer and Annie Belle Clark teacher, helps kids take AR tests on books they have read.
The summer AR testing program helps area schools earn 10 cents for each point earned. Schools can earn $1,000 for more books and tests. Students and others can check out books with AR designation from the public library of the Coastal Plain library, and then come to the Reading Center, located in the United Way’s Betty Jo Roach Community Center at 211 W. Fourth St. for testing.
Testing began June 9 and ends July 16. Testing hours are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday.