St. Saviour Catholic Academy in Park Slope won first place in The Brooklyn Nets/Newsela Reading Challenge.

The academy earned 100 tickets to the Nets vs. Hawks game at the Barclays Center on Sunday, April 2, and scored a visit from Brooklyn Nets player Jeremy Lin on April 7.

This six-week reading challenge, which ran from mid-February through late March, is an extension of Newsela’s “A Mile In Our Shoes” program, which aims to promote empathy and inclusivity while building essential reading skills among students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Excited About Reading

Newsela partners with NBA teams in select areas around the country to offer these challenges and prizes to get young people excited about reading.

The education technology company teamed up with the Brooklyn Nets to encourage Brooklyn students to read and take quizzes from Newsela’s curated Text Sets. These articles share some of the diverse experiences, challenges and accomplishments of a wide range of communities in America and abroad.

Students had the opportunity to read about the different perspectives and real-life experiences of people of varying backgrounds, skin colors, religions, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses and nations of origin.

Fostering Diversity, Justice

Students built understanding and reflected on the similarities and differences in their own lives. Teachers also benefitted by gaining the tools to foster rich discussions to promote identity, diversity, justice and action within and beyond the classroom setting.

St. Saviour Catholic Academy is grateful to Newsela and its partners – Teaching Tolerance, Define American, Brooklyn Nets and the Jeremy Lin Foundation – for offering the contest.