Many Newton elementary school students may be better readers today because of a reading program conducted by the Jasper County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. Director Sarah Patterson says most students they worked with showed improvement over the course of the past school year.

“We have a Heart Reading Program that reached 196 students this year in Newton’s elementaries. 189 of them improved their reading scores at 97%.”

Patterson says her volunteers can not take all the credit for the students’ improvement, but noted that was a strong percentage. The Heart Program stands for “Help Engage A Reader Today”, and it is just one of many programs carried out by Jasper County RSVP volunteers.