Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 5, 2002
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Kirsten Kendrick, Governor’s Communications Office 360-902-4136 or 360-239-1399 cell; [email protected]

Locke Awards Grand Prizes to Two Students for Completing the Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge

Gov. Gary Locke today surprised two Washington state students, awarding them grand prize trips to Disneyland for participating in the Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge and reading at least 15 hours this summer.

The governor was the surprise guest at a school-wide assembly at Benjamin Rush Elementary in Redmond, where he told 7-year-old Rahul Jobanputra that he was a grand prize winner. Rahul read nine books over the summer and told the governor his favorite book was “The Salamander Room” because he has a pet salamander.

Earlier in the day, Locke delivered the good news to 11-year-old Manuel Rubalcava in a phone call to his art class. Manuel is a sixth grader at Morris Schott Middle School in Mattawa, near Yakima. He read 26 hours this summer and said his favorite book was “Lord of the Rings.”

Each winner will get to bring three family members on their three-day trip to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Park. They were selected at random from the 5,663 children under the age of 18 who took part in the Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge during its inaugural year.

“I’m so pleased to be able to reward these students for their great work this summer,” Locke said. “Reading is the foundation of academic success. To open books is to open minds, and I’m very proud of all the kids who accepted my reading challenge.”

“One mother wrote me and said the challenge helped her son increase his reading comprehension by three years. That’s what the program is all about and that’s why I hope even more kids participate next year.”

The students who read at least 15 hours this summer will receive a certificate from the governor and became eligible for various prizes, ranging from gift certificates for new books to the two grand prize trips to Disneyland.

Several companies helped sponsor the challenge, including Alaska Airlines, Disneyland, Capital One, Verizon, Washington Mutual and Amazon.com. The companies provided more than $60,000 in prizes and support.

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