MDA Community Reads Day

Community Reads Day at MDA on Wednesday, February 27th, was a TERRIFIC day!

We wish that we could pipe into this message the volume at which the students cheered for our guest, Giants mascot Lou Seal; the silence of respectful listening they gave to our classroom readers; and, the overall enthusiasm for books and reading that came out of our first annual Community Reads Day here on campus!

The aim of our Community Reads day was to invite community leaders to the school to read a book to our students and to talk about the importance of reading and literacy in their lives. Reading is essential for a child’s success, and students are more likely to become lifelong readers and learners if they have reading role models.

We welcomed friends, new and old, to MDA from a variety of backgrounds to read stories to each classroom, sharing details about their own journeys to their current jobs: authors, firefighters, police officers, city officials, and even a former Olympic figure skater! Our speakers included:

Cristina Morris - MDA Volunteer and Supporter
Maggie Takuda-Hall - Children's Author
San Francisco Fire Department - Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Fire Fighters
Cait Malloy - Director, 500 Capp Street Foundation
Jenny Lam - Education Advisor for San Francisco, London Breed's Office
Jerome Williams - MDA Volunteer and Supporter
Emily Hughes - Olympic Figure Skater
Angelo Dipietrantonio - Artist, Photography, Digital Arts, Painting
Anne Nesbet - Author
San Francisco Police - Mission Police Captain Caltagirone and Police Officers
Neal Muller - Product Lead at Google and Serial Adventurer
Kate Larson - ABC7 (KGO-TV)
Alison Carlson - Author
Mikkela Sweet - JD, CTFA
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman - District 8, SF Board of Supervisors
Trevor Hooper - ex-NFL, Executive Recruiter

We were also fortunate to have Hooman Khalili from Radio Alice as our all-school speaker. His stories about his childhood and how he got started in broadcasting kept our students enthralled.

Below are some photos from the day. Be sure to check out our Instagram and Facebook (@missiondoloresacademy) to see even more photographs of the day's festivities.

A huge thank you to all our guest speakers!

If you are interested in being part of next year’s Community Reads Day, or know of someone you think would be an interesting reader, please email development@mdasf.org