WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – For the third-straight year, members of the University of Hartford men's soccer team participated in the National Education Association's Read Across America Program on April 16.

Jordan Bar, Bojan Delibasic, Sam Groves and Jamie Thomas teamed up with men's soccer assistant coaches Nate Dunbar and David Kelly and visited Webster Hill Elementary School in West Hartford where they read to students. Each player and coach were assigned to a classroom and selected a book to read to the elementary school students.

The NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child to celebrate reading. In cities across the nation, community members develop NEA's Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages.

Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.