BRYAN, Texas — Books, Barbers and Beauticians is just one of the initiatives that Bryan ISD is offering its students at Sadberry Intermediate.
Staff are trying to promote literacy during its first year, and students are looking forward to the launch of this partnership.
“Either you can read the whole time that you’re at the barbershop or you can show them one of your reading assignments, and if it’s a certain amount of pages, you can get five dollars off your haircut,” said Levi Bowles, a fifth grader at Sadberry Intermediate.
Science is his favorite subject, but he has a love for anime.
“I used to read three anime books, but I finished those. They had three in each, so I read nine books one month — and they were each 600 pages,” said Bowles.
Levi has already read two books during the first week of school.
He's well on his way to getting a certificate for $5 towards a haircut.
Sadberry Principal Alfred Scott tells us why this reading initiative started.
“I went to the different elementary’s, Neal, Kemp, Navarro, Bonham, and we talked about things that they liked,” Scott said. “They liked barbershops, and they liked beauty shops and I thought how can I connect this with this school and I thought you’re reading in the chair when you’re at the barbershop or read at the beauty shop before you get in the chair and I thought, ‘How can I connect this?’”
It's creating a bridge between students, the community, and learning.
“This program, it would increase literacy at Sadberry and help barbers and the students so why not? It was just a collaboration between myself, the kids and the barbers and it’s a perfect way to bring the community and the school together,” said Scott.
Level Up Cuts, Ben’s Barbershop, Fade Masters, Crown of Glory, and TDK are just some of the businesses across the Brazos Valley that are making this initiative happen.
“We found that kids care a lot about how they look and about how they feel so the best way to encourage them to read is to offer them a discount for their haircuts,” said Kristina Seigler Colocho, who, along with her husband, owns Level Up Cuts in Bryan.
They're making a difference in these kids’ lives, one haircut and one book at a time.
“We like to give the kids a little bit of exposure of what their life can look like but encourage them in the right ways to make it happen for themselves and show them, ‘Hey, these things do matter. You do need to pay attention in school. You do need to read. You do need to make sure you’re getting your education,'” said Colocho.
Books, Barbers, and Beauticians will run through the end of the school year.
Scott hopes this initiative will help students improve their reading and writing.