The Valedictorian Project is a revolutionary new program geared towards raising the educational expectation of all young students. Utilizing the robust children’s book entitled Valedictorian, we plant seeds of excellence as early as possible.
VPI plants seeds of excellence in the minds of our youth by empowering K-8 students with information about the highest honor one can receive as a student … the Valedictorian. We educate students early on the importance of striving for academic excellence, provide them with practical steps to reach such a lofty goal, and share inspirational stories of real valedictorians.
VPI uses the empowering children’s book titled Valedictorian to motivate students to strive for academic excellence. We conduct an interactive read with the Author, followed by a probing question and answer session, and we leave every student with a vision of what can be; and a signed copy of Valedictorian.
As of right now, there are more than 39,000 Arizona third-graders who are minimally proficient in reading skills, putting many at risk for retention. Arizona’s mandatory retention policy, Move on When Reading (ARS 15-701), requires that a student not be promoted from third grade to fourth grade if he or she scores far below the third-grade reading level on the AzMerit assessment.
We believe that by planting these types of seeds early, and introducing students to empowering books that first and foremost pique their interest and makes them want to read more, but that also contains characters that represent them well and guides them toward prosperity… we can seriously impact their life trajectory. Encouraging more students to be readers today, will lead to more leaders tomorrow.
