Univision KLUZ-TV, Ford & Scholastic Books Encourage Reading in New Mexico.

Students at Longfellow Elementary School, Albuquerque’s Dual Language Fine Arts magnet school, logged more than 73,000 pages of grade appropriate reading material as they competed for awards in conjunction with Todos a Leer, a reading initiative produced by Entravision Communications KLUZ-TV Univision New Mexico and the Ford Motor Company.

Albuquerque’s Mayor Martin Chavez and First Lady Margaret Aragon de Chavez spoke at the Todos a Leer awards event Thursday evening. In addition to her past roles of school teacher and principal, Mrs. Chavez is also the host of Reading Albuquerque, a locally produced read-aloud radio program. Mrs. Chavez praised the Longfellow students and their parents for their dual language studies, a skill that will only become more desirous. The Mayor and Mrs. Chavez were joined by local firefighters and Univision personalities in the read-aloud portion of the event.

State Legislator Rick Miera also spoke to a crowd of over 250 students and their parents.

For its role in coordinating the event, Longfellow Elementary was presented with a certificate for a Dell computer. Students that logged the most reading over a 2 week period prior to the Todos a Leer event were awarded with medals and Toys R Us gift certificates, all courtesy of Univision and the Ford Motor Co.