PUEBLO — The K-12 Swallows Charter Academy principal challenged students to a reading competition and lost an interesting wager.
"Our principal is sleeping on the roof, that's insane," said fifth-grade student, Eleanor Smith.
"I'm more than happy to do this because I'm so proud of what they accomplished and the love of literacy that I feel has grown this in our school," said principal Matthew Hawken.
Hawken estimates students read at least 2,000 books in six months. He said the goal was to reach 10,000 points and each book worth up to five points.
"From August to September, I think we had like 1,900 points," said Hawken. "The day before spring break, they hit [10,000]."
"I'm proud of all of elementary for like being able to accomplish all of this 'cause 10,000 points is, that's a lot," said Smith.
"I just like reading 'cause if you read history stuff you can discover more stuff of what you didn't know," said fourth-grade student, Kahne Paulsen.
Hawken said the idea came from his elementary school principal who made a similar bet. "He sat on the roof all day and played his harmonica and read books to us all day. . . I remember the difference that principal made on my life."
Hawken had a tent to sleep in and hooked up electricity for his phone and laptop. He went on YouTube Live to read to students that night at 7.
"He goes above and beyond," said Smith.
"I love you, thanks for going up there," said Paulsen.
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