Submitted by the San Juan Island School District

Friday Harbor Elementary School is proud to announce that Ms. deGavre’s Third Grade Class, the “3-D Eagles”, has been crowned Washington State Reading Champions by READBowl 2024. Read Bowl is a global reading competition organized by Malcolm Mitchell’s Youth Literacy Initiative, Read With Malcolm. Malcolm Mitchell is a former player for the New England Patriots, an NFL Super Bowl Champion, and a children’s book author. The competition began the day of the American College Football National Championship and culminated with a live crowning of the World Champions of Reading on the morning of NFL Super Bowl Sunday.

A total of six 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes from Friday Harbor Elementary School participated in the READBowl this year. All of the students were incredibly engaged and motivated to increase their reading during the contest. Excitingly, the “3-D Eagles” won the state championship and placed in the top 50 ranked teams nationally for four consecutive weeks. The Washington State championship came as a result of reading the most minutes per team over four weeks during READBowl 2024. Despite 3 snow days, the 3-D Eagles were able to remain the top Washington State team throughout the competition, and three of the four weeks they were the only Washington team in the top 50.

“Winning a state championship is always prestigious,” said Mitchell. “However this year is especially notable, as there were more than 280,000 students, from all 50 states and 14 countries on the reading field for the big game this year. I am so proud of every student who competed and congratulate our state and national champions. Training for READBowl 2025 begins now.”

Overall, students from across the globe read for more than 180 million minutes during READBowl 2024. Mitchell, who struggled to read through school and into college, has made it his mission to reach kids and help them read to a better future