ROW on NBC Montana

by Bowen West
Mon, November 25th 2024 at 5:00 PM

MISSOULA, Mont. — As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and some elementary schools are doing that in Missoula. That’s where Reading Opens Your World, also known as ROW, comes in.

“It’s very hard for teachers to spend individual attention, especially a solid 30 minutes with each student,” said founder and executive director Lauren Markovich.

The nonprofit pairs community volunteers with younger students. The idea is to foster a love of reading as early as possible.

It started in 2022. Since then, it’s helped 344 students, gifted 1641 books to kids and has about 110 volunteers in three schools. But the need is growing.

“The goal is to take on one additional elementary school each year but in order to expand we need volunteers to do that,” Markovich said.
According to data from the Montana Office of Public Instruction, 32% of elementary students in Missoula Co. are proficient in reading, with another 27% advanced readers.

Markovich wants to see all students improve and open a book as soon as possible.

“It’s really just the time where the volunteer and student pair can make a connection,” Markovich said. “It will hopefully motivate the child to want to read outside of school.”