Feb 23
Ringling Bros., First Lady Sandra Deal celebrate reading victory at Rockbridge Elementary
By: Curt Yeomans
Published: February 23, 2015
NORCROSS — It wasn’t the Circus McGurkus, but the show at Rockbridge Elementary School Monday may have still been astounding as pep rallies go.
Two hundred third-graders at the school were treated to a visit by Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal and clowns from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus during a circus-themed pep rally that turned the school’s gymnasium into a big top. The festive event was held in celebration of the students reading 3,394 books over a two-week period during a competition hosted by Ringling Bros.
Deal read Dr. Seuss’ “If I Ran the Circus” to the students during the pep rally. The story is about young Morris McGurk’s dreams of running the “astounding” Circus McGurkus in a cleaned up junk yard.
On Friday morning, the three classrooms whose students read the most books will go on a field trip to the circus, which is currently running at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Ringling Bros. will also donate 100 circus-themed books to Rockbridge’s library.
The celebration was originally planned for Feb. 17, but was delayed until this week because of winter weather that plagued the area last week.