WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Student-athletes from five programs will take their skills back to elementary school on Monday, March 2 when they return to their roots in kindergarten through second grade classrooms as part of Read Across America festivities taking place at Washington Elementary School in West Haven.

Read Across America Day was created by the National Education Association in 1998 as a day to unite children across the country in a celebration of reading. Read Across America is a year-round program that focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone.

For the Chargers, representatives from football, men's basketball, men's and women's soccer and volleyball will join head women's basketball coach Debbie Buff and Charlie the Charger to read to community youth at Washington Elementary School. New Haven student-athletes and coaches will read to K-2 classrooms on the topic of the Earth.

Read Across America Day is part of the New Haven Department of Athletics' broader community engagement efforts, which seeks to help the surrounding towns and community organizations while providing opportunities for student-athletes and coaches to give back to the local communities.