Bringing Reading To Written by: Stephanie McGregor Imagine a world where every child loves reading and can comprehend what they have read. I was a mother of a child who struggled to read or comprehend what he was reading. This took a tremendous toll on me. I was constantly ashamed as I was called to my son’s school consistently because his GPA was 0.94. Firm measurements and serious bribes were put in place to encourage better academic grades. I am sure he tried to break the cycle. I wish I could say that Connection to Creativity was birth out of the pain and need to help my son learn how to read. But it was the birth out of my son helping me to help him. I had to create a jingle for the reading day for an international company. This single assignment showed me that creating fun activities around reading can break a negative cycle and change the concept of reading and that’s where we started from! We were “bringing the fun back to reading”! We believe every child deserves the support needed to learn how to read at or above their grade level. To bring this vision to life, we create engaging programs for readers from Pre-K through Elementary to spark their imagination and stimulate reading comprehension. On February 8th 2017 our world shattered into pieces with the death of my son, Aliko. How would I continue the fight to bring the fun back to reading while handling everything that comes along with losing a child. This was not an easy period in my life. I left lost. I left anger. I felt disillusioned. The child I created these programs for and helped him to discover joy in reading was gone. But I pressed on. In 2017, Connection to Creativity partnered with Literacy Inc. with its “Splashing into Summer” reading program that featured international authors
Life!
such as Victoria Kann and many more. A few months later, Connection to Creativity closed their doors in the Bahamas and opened up in New York City. Since then we have been making a tremendous impact in the New York School District. Our programs have been featured in various places in New York City such as The Intrepid Museum, Raymond and Flanigan, Libraries, and other countries such as Eindhoven Netherlands, The Bahamas, and Africa. Our staple program is the Cuddle & Read musical which has been featured all over the country. This program
INCREASES LITERACY READING & SING-A-LONG, BOOSTS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, & CREATES HEALTHY READING HABITS! Our goal is to create a positive mindset in each inschool visit that we book. Cuddle & Read ensures children receive an autographed book from the featured author or a customized activity book fitting for the school curriculum.
E VO LV I N G WOM A N M AGA Z I N E - 14 -
