On Monday, Mar. 2, Fresno City College was invaded by fourth graders.

Burrel Elementary’s 4th grade class taught by Mrs. Funk was on a field trip from Riverdale to the staff dining room at FCC for the annual National Education Association’s Read Across America event. It was arranged by the Teachers of Tomorrow club, along with Secret Society and a few other on-campus organizations.

NEA’s Read Across America has been celebrated in schools nationwide. In 1997, a small group at NEA had thought that since there were events like pep rallies to get kids excited for football, there should be similar events to get kids excited about reading. Read Across America was first celebrated in 1998 and has become a nationwide NEA tradition since then.

The event takes place every year on March 2, the birth date of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. Created by the National Education Association.

Opening the event was a performance of Dr. Seuss’ story “The Lorax” by volunteer performers. The Lorax is a story about a man called the Once-ler who creates a factory that makes ‘thneeds’, which he insists everyone needs. In order to make a thneed, the Once-ler has to cut down trees, and the Lorax alone speaks in the defense of the forest and the animals that live there as the factory pollutes the environment.

The book actually holds a very deep message about industrialized society and the importance of nature, but it was entertaining enough to the children to see the bouncing Barbaloos dancing about and the colorfully illustrated trees.

Darlene “Dar” Ortega, the president of the Teachers of Tomorrow club, and Will Spain, the president of Secret Society, were very enthusiastic about the event, double-checking that lunch arrangements were still in place, and reminding the volunteers that “anyone wearing a silly hat is not allowed to cuss!”

Following that, Luce Mendoza, the representative for ICC, gave a small lesson about trees. It was a nice lead-in to the next activity, where the class of 14 students took a walk to the FCC garden. There, they got to see the wide variety of plants and the fish pond before taking time to plant some Japanese maple seeds.

Once all the seeds were planted, the kids took a trip to the Natural History Museum in the Science building. The class was fascinated by the various displays of animal furs, mounted heads, historic bow-and-arrows, and the stuffed body of the squirrel that caused a power outage some years ago by climbing on some power lines at FCC.

“It’s really a great experience,” Luce Mendoza said about the event, “Just about everyone volunteering wants to become a teacher, and having experiences like this help with that in addition to actually promoting reading. I’d recommend it to anyone hoping to become a teacher one day.”