LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Head men's basketball coach Paul Weir and members of the NM State athletic department joined Governor Susana Martinez on Friday at Booker T. Washington Elementary School to kick off the New Mexico True Summer Reading Challenge.
 
Weir also spoke to the crowd of K-2 students and upped the ante to the students. He offered the students of Booker T. Washington Elementary a chance to meet the NM State men's basketball team if they surpassed the required 12 books and reached the 20 books plateau.
 
"I'm very confident that the students are going to meet that challenge, and I really hope that they all turn in their sheets to get that opportunity because all of them, as you noticed, were very excited about the opportunity to win that prize," Booker T. Washington Principal Mari Rincon said. "I think having the Aggies and the basketball program here is huge. The kids were excited to have New Mexico State support us in this wonderful challenge. I hope that we continue to do this again so we can give them positive role models, continue to encourage them to read, let them know to aim higher and aim for higher education as well."
 
The program is dedicated to stopping the "summer slide" by encouraging New Mexico's students to read more books over the summer break.
 
"Well, the reason I'm here is to encourage kids," Governor Martinez said. "Especially during the summer when they're doing all the fun things that they do on vacation or going swimming and hanging out with their friends but to also include reading; because, if you don't read every day during the summer, you just completely slump. You suffer from the summer slide and you start to not be as good at reading as you enter the fourth grade or the next grade and you're not prepared or ready to jump into that next grade. So, you learn to read from kindergarten to third grade, and then you read to learn for the rest of your life so we want kids on target."
 
"The summer reading program is an opportunity for kids to stay engaged in reading," Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds said. "I know New Mexico State University through the athletic department has always supported our kids in their reading effort, so it was a nice kick-off to the summer and it's nice to have New Mexico State Aggies here."
 
The statewide program runs from May 1 through July 31 of this year and challenges elementary school aged children from New Mexico to read 12 books and submit a short essay on "Why I love New Mexico" for a chance to win a variety of prizes.
 
The grand prize will be an all-expense paid trip for a family of four to Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Fla. Other prizes include a hot-air balloon ride with Governor Martinez and First Gentlemen, be an ABQ BioPark Junior Zookeeper for the day and a family four-pack to the 2016 New Mexico State Fair to name a few.
 
For more information on the 2016 Summer Reading Challenge, click here.