8K Bulloch students compete in Read Bowl 2025
Malcolm Mitchell's global reading competition to announce winners on Super Bowl Sunday
(Editor's Note: Article Update on Feb. 16, 2025 - Southeast Bulloch High School and Portal Middle High School who placed 16th and 65th out of the 106 high school teams competing in the varsity conference level of the competition.)
Bulloch County Schools' students are competing in Read Bowl 2025, a global reading competition, the results of which will be announced on Super Bowl Sunday.
From Pre-Kindergarten to high school seniors, nearly 8,000 of the school district's students from 11 schools have been competing in the four-quarter (weeks) event which began on January 13, and will culminate on February 7. The World Champions of Reading will be crowned during a live morning event on Sunday, February 9, which is the National Football League's Super Bowl Sunday.
Bulloch County's students are part of the more than nearly 809,000 students from all 50 states and 16 countries who are competing in what has been dubbed the World Championship of Reading. Participating students worldwide have already read nearly 315,000 minutes combined. Coordinated locally by Bulloch County Schools' media specialists, it has also provided teachers a unique platform to further motivate students to increase the time they spend reading.
READBowl was founded by Super Bowl Champion, former Georgia Bulldog, and children’s book author Malcolm Mitchell through his Share the Magic Foundation. Its goal is to inspire children to read. Major sponsors like the National Football League Foundation, Scholastic, the University of Georgia, The Kirby Smart Family Foundation, Georgia Power Company, Wells Fargo, Tiffany & Company, and more are showing their support for reading. Learn more about READBowl here. Track the event's progress on its website or social media profiles.
Mitchell considers a love of reading to be his greatest achievement. In 2016, he founded Share the Magic Foundation with a sole purpose: to transform children’s lives through literacy. The Foundation’s mission is to inspire young people to read by bringing book ownership and innovative programming to students in Title I schools and under-resourced communities. Whether a student is a striving reader or learns differently, Read with Malcolm literacy programs provide both inspiration and motivation, and carry the message that reading is the key to achieving one’s goals. To learn more about Malcolm's vision to inspire young and striving readers, you may also visit the link above.
Reading is a foundational skill that Bulloch County Schools helps develop for its students through fun events like this, quality instruction, and community-based literacy efforts like the Bulloch County Literacy Council. All of which help address literacy gaps in children from birth to pre-kindergarten and at key grade levels.