Garrett Schenck Elementary students awarded bikes for reading

SKOWHEGAN – Several students at Garret Schenck Elementary School received new bikes at an assembly held Friday, June 3, courtesy of the Bikes for Books campaign.
Students are invited to participate in the Bikes for Books campaign each year, sponsored by the Northern Star Masonic Lodge 28, of North Anson. Every time participating students at local elementary schools read an age-appropriate book, their name goes into a drawing for a bike. A boy and girl in each grade are chosen. The more the participants read, the better their chance of winning. Winners also get a safety helmet and T-shirt.
Students at Garret Schenck Elementary who were awarded new bicycles were Aubrey Holt and Gabriel Flood-Wildes (kindergarten), Alena Swihart and Grayson Lane (grade one), Ivy Richards and Seth Buker (grade 2), Alexia Bartlett and Mason Boothby (grade 3), Ella Gravel and Camdyn Thompson (grade 4) and Sarah-Beth Newell (grade 5; no boys in grade five participated). Students at the school read a total of 272 books.
Along with the bicycles, the school also gave out Walmart gift cards to the top readers, one to a boy and a girl in their classroom.
The Masons who sponsored the program at Schenck were Linwood Cowan and David Adams. They will also give out bicycles in the other elementary schools in Regional School Unit 74, which includes Anson, Embden, New Portland, North Anson and Solon. The Masons thanked area businesses that helped make the program possible.