DOWNEY - West Middle School students tallied more than 850,000 minutes of reading time to earn a visit from Los Angeles Clippers guard Jason Hart this week. More than 50 students heard Hart read “Happy Birthday Martin Luther King.”

Clippers cheerleaders handed out free books, bookmarks and pencils. Each student received two free tickets to an upcoming Clippers game.

The Clippers also gave West Middle School 200 tickets to a game earlier this month. Principal Craig Bertsch and librarian Julia Desalernos spoke with Clippers owner Donald Sterling before the game.

Last year, West students logged about 340,000 minutes of reading time. Next year, the kids plan to read more than 1 million minutes. Photos by Art Montoya

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Published: January 23, 2009 - Volume 7 - Issue 40