For their mentoring efforts Kendrick High School graphics arts students have earned the Student2Student Award of Excellence. The Columbus, Ga., SkillsUSA chapter has been conducting mentoring activities for eight years with nearby Georgetown Elementary School.

Because the state of Georgia has implemented a reading test that third graders must pass to be promoted to fourth grade, Kendrick students decided to focus on literacy with two third grade classes.

Called Leaping for Literacy, the project involved a series of activities including a birthday party for Dr. Seuss. At the party SkillsUSA members discussed the importance of being able to read and SkillsUSA vice president, Sheri Leggett, read Green Eggs and Ham to the youngsters. After that, members lead a game of leapfrog. The third graders had to leap over a chair, read a word on the chair, then leap back before their opponents.

The SkillsUSA students also held a reading contest, visited the class to check on the third graders' reading skills and helped the kids publish their own coloring book.

The book uses frogs to tell what the world would be like if people couldn't read. To expose the youngsters to the graphic arts field, the chapter members invited them to the school's graphic arts class to see the coloring book go from design to finished product.