The Boothbay Regional Elementary School assembly took place Monday, and to the delight of the recipients, 30 children took home new bicycles.

The Masons of the Grand Lodge of Maine worked with BRES this year to provide for the school's first Bikes for Books program. From January through April, teachers in grades three through six encouraged their students to read as many books as they could during that period, and the Grand Lodge provided them further incentive by promising a lottery that readers could enter to win new bikes at their year-end assembly. Thomas E. Pulkkinen, deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge, spearheaded the program.

"The idea is for the kids to want to read," Pulkkinen said in an interview, "to enjoy the reading."

He did acknowledge, though, that "the bikes do spread an incentive for kids to read."

Pulkkinen said there was no restriction for what types of books the kids could choose. In order to participate, they only needed to fill out a book report form for each book they read. The form encouraged the students to write a summary of their chosen texts and allowed them to rate what they had read. Each form also became an entry in the bike lottery, so the more each student read the more chances he or she had to win a bike.

In total, 50 students at BRES participated in Bikes for Books, and the Grand Lodge worked with school officials to draw the names of 30 students. Pulkkinen announced those 30 names at the assembly, and after he called their names, the children walked to the front of the gymnasium to claim their winnings.

BRES is not the only school where Bikes for Books has taken place; it reaches across the state. The Masons work with approximately 80 different school systems, Pulkkinen said, and the group donates greater than $70,000 in gifts throughout Maine as a result of the program. In his speech at the assembly, he noted that, at BRES alone, the students read 46,411 pages in a total of 228 books. On average, that amounts to approximately 200 pages per book and nearly five books per student.

Students who won bikes this year include Moses Allen, Mariah Andrews, Chloe Arsenault, Elizabeth Averill, Ethan Barter, Tyler Barter, Mita Bartlett, Curtis Bibber, Tyler Blackman, Kylie Brown, Grace Campbell, Cassie Doray, Callan Eason, Riley Faulkingham, Cody Field, Rachel Gentry, Della Hahn, Deakon Harrington, Emma Holmes, Justin Hyson, Joey Markee, Sean Marston, Ashton McLellan, Sam Page, Ryan Russell, Zada Smith, Aiden Stoddard, Addie Stone, Madelyn Teele and Isaac Wyer.

Financial donors to the program include Bath Savings Institution, Central Maine Power Company, Cook Educational Resources, Dead River Company, Hammond Lumber Company, Hannaford Supermarket, Hawke Motors, J. Edward Knight & Co., Knickerbocker Group, Mill Cove Lobster Pound, Nathaniel S. Wilson Sailmaker, Pottle Realty Group, Shore Hills Campground, The First, N. A. and Washburn & Doughty Association.

Silly Stringing teachers

Students and teachers celebrated one other major event at the assembly. This past May, students were able to participate in Jump Rope for Heart and could, through that program, learn jump rope skills, increase their knowledge of how the heart works and raise money for the American Heart Association.

School officials awarded the top student fundraisers with the chance to spray Silly String on their teachers at this assembly. The five winners included Kate and Grace Campbell, Slade Balsdon, Maddie Teele and Gavin Carlson. Carlson, the student who raised the most money, was given the privilege of Silly Stringing BRES Principal Mark Tess.

The Boothbay Register reported previously that 34 students participated in Jump Rope for Heart this year at BRES. They raised more than $1,910 for the AHA.