Mets Players Read To Students At P.S. 92, Corona

Mets Players Read To Students At P.S. 92, Corona

By Dan Miller

Mr. Met leads the cheers as two student volunteers at P.S. 92, Corona share the reading load with Mets players Brian Stokes (l.) and Alex Cora. The players and Mr. Met visited the school to read aloud to the children in the school gymnasium.

For the last eight years New York Mets players have visited P.S. 92 in Corona to support literacy as part of a program organized by the Everybody Wins Foundation. This year, since school started in September, some 20 members of the New York Mets corps of employees have traveled from Citi Field to P.S. 92 to read one on  one with their student reading partners in the forth and fifth grades. Jill Nee, Mets coordinator for media outreach, who has been coordinating this project for many years, was all smiles as the players read to the kids and the students paid homage to their hometown heroes. New York Mets players,

In the school gymnasium, infielder Alex Cora (No. 3) and relief pitcher Brian Stokes (No. 43) selected two books about baseball from several suggested by the students to more than 200 fourth- and fifth-graders. Stokes read Here Comes the Strikeout and Cora read Pitching in Pigtails. The two Mets players also spoke to the students about the importance of reading.

(L. to r.): Mr. Met, P.S. 92 Principal Pat Barrata, Mets reliever Brian Stokes, P.S. 92 Assistant Principal Esther Reyes and Mets utility infielder Alex Cora posed after the two Mets players read to students at the Corona school. Photos Dan Miller/DMD Images

Mr. Met toured the main office and posed for photos with the school secretaries. P.S. 94 Principal Pat Barrata was very excited about the program. “About 20 members of the Mets organization come to our school two days a week and read one on one with our forth and fifth grade students during their lunch,” Barrata explained. “The nice part about that program is at the end of the year they give us tickets to see a game. The players also come and read to the kids. We fill up the gym It is a really great day Another thing they do is take the 20 kids they work with for a tour of the stadium--and I got to go this time! Citi Field is really beautiful. We really had a good time.”