Branch Elementary students got a wild ride for their achievements for this year’s Read-a-thon awards day. Sara and her mustang, Duke, treated the children to a short educational program on wild mustangs. The visit included a riding demo and a lesson on the history of mustangs. Sara visits schools regularly in the area. The treat was due to the students exceeding their goal of reading half-a-million minutes. The children read 584,388 minutes in 25 days. The percentage of participants has gone up every year, 40-percent in 2009, 50-percent in 2010, around 60-percent in 2011 and 70 this year. The top readers were 6th grader Elena Escobar who read 10,557 minutes; Evangeline Miller, 5th grade, read 9400 and Amber Fudula, 5th grade, read 8,220 minutes.
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