District Three's Panther Pals & Reading Buddies warp up their year with special celebration

Batesburg-Leesville, SC - The Panther Pals finished the 2017-2018 school year at Celebrations on May 10th by roller skating, dining on pizza, and passing out books for each child to take home for their personal library. This year’s celebration was very special because they invited the Reading Buddies to be part of their year-end get together. Altogether, there were 21 adults, 26 Panther Pals and 5 Reading Buddies present at the gathering. Those who didn’t initially know how to roller skate put their best foot forward and tried to learn by rolling around the skating rink. Before the celebration was over, though, most of the children were comfortable on their skates. The Panther Pals from last year’s celebration were also skating around with great confidence. All of the children enjoyed each other’s company and had a great deal of fun.

They would like to thank each of the mentors who were able to be there for the recognition portion of the celebration. Each mentor took part in introducing their mentee, expressing how they felt about each other and talked about why being a mentor was such a blessing for them according to the staff. They also presented one or two books to their mentee, which they chose from the collection that was provided for them. As the mentors gave the books out, they explained to each mentee how important it is to continue reading over the summer. All of the presentations were a shower of love and concern for each child in the program. Mrs. Simpkins stepped up to recognize the mentees whose mentors were unable to attend the year-end celebration. The gatherings leader had the Reading Buddies come forward and select two books of their choosing that they could take home and there was not a shy one in the group! In addition to all of this, there was also a special recognition for Ciara Williams, as her mentor decided to introduce her to gymnastics classes this year. Ciara has excelled in a very short period of time and now she is participating in gymnastics competitions.

“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” -Mother Teresa.