Literacy news

Rubbing Shoulders with WWE Superstars

14 Apr 2010

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 WrestleMania Reading Challenge run by the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and the National Literacy Trust. Four students, Elisha from The Lammas School in London, Subhaan from James Elliman Primary in Slough, Thomas from The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London, and Abbas from Byron Primary School in Bradford,  jetted off to Phoenix, Arizona, in March to meet the WWE Superstars and witness WrestleMania live.

To enter the competition, pupils read five books, chose their favourite read and then wrote a 100 word letter to convince a WWE Superstar to read their favourite book. The shortlisted letters were sent to the WWE Superstars who then chose the four winners.

This is the third year in which the competition has been running and has proved an excellent and unique way to promote reading in schools, using the positive influence of popular entertainers.

The lucky winners won a trip to Phoenix where they met some of the Superstars, got autographs, were interviewed by the WWE TV crew, attended the WWE Reading Challenge quiz, hung out at WrestleMania Axxess and went to the big event itself, WrestleMania to see the Superstars in action.

Elisha, Subhaan, Thomas and Abbas are all huge wrestling fans and so the trip was a dream come true for them. After shaking hands with one of the Superstars, Subhaan said, “I’m not going to ever wash my hand”. Elisha said how she “loved being part of it rather than just watching it on TV”. Thomas, visibly bubbling over with excitement the whole weekend said, “I’d love to do it all over again”. Abbas summed up the trip in one word: “Awesome”.

Click on the photo to see the WWE trip gallery:

Tags: Children, Reading Champions, Reading Connects, Young People

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