Local leaders read to elementary students in Greeley
All week, Fidel Sanchez’s second-grade daughter—he calls her “G”—asked him one question: “Daddy, is today the day?”
The day finally came on Friday, March 7. It was the day she and other University Schools elementary students dressed as their favorite book characters, including the Lorax and a flock of princesses, and listened as leaders from all over Greeley read to them. This included first responders like Sanchez, who came dressed in his uniform as a sergeant for the Greeley Police Department.
He had some tough competition, including contestants from Miss Colorado, Colorado Comfort Canines and the University of Northern Colorado women’s soccer team, but G was super excited to have her dad there as a police officer and not the boring ‘ol dad who sometimes volunteers on field trips.
“I’m with the class often,” Sanchez says, “but this is the first time I’ve been down in uniform.” 
More than 70 volunteers came to the school to partake in Read Across America, a nationwide effort to get kids interested in books and celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2. It’s such a big deal for University Schools that they make it a week-long activity, says Michael Mazurana, the school principal. Kids wear crazy socks for Fox and Socks Day, crazy hats for Cat in the Hat Day and crazy similar outfits for Thing 1 and Thing 2 Day. The days really work, Mazurana says, as he sees a spike in reading interest before them. University Schools has celebrated Read Across America at least a dozen times, he believes.
“Kids love to be read to regardless, and it really helps,” he says of the local leaders showing up to read to them. “It’s fun for them to hear the different voices for the different characters. It’s just a great day to celebrate reading.”
Mazurana also calls the event a career day, not just a reading day, as students are supposed to ask questions as well as listen to the stories. This is perhaps the most fun part of the day for Brian Kuznik, chief of the Greeley Fire Department, and Adam Turk, chief of the Greeley Police Department. Chris Ellmer, deputy chief of the Greeley Fire Department, also read to the students.
“It’s a great opportunity to connect with the kids,” Kuznik says. “It’s fun for me to interact with the community because, as chief, I don’t get these opportunities that often.”
In the four years he’s read to students, Turk says the questions they ask always make him chuckle. A student once asked him if he had real bullets in his guns, and another asked him to see his taser. Turk had to turn him down: He doesn’t carry one.
“They’re the most outrageous questions I answer all year,” he says with a laugh.
Even so, Turk says he loves to read to the students. He tries to interact with the public a lot, but doing it in a fun way, with students who greet him in a tiny mob at the door and sit quietly while he speaks, makes it one of the best times of the year.
“I couldn’t be happier right now,” Turk says. “We want them to see police officers in a more positive light. This is the reason I love being police chief.”
