Vikings defensive end shares passion for reading with Minneapolis elementary students
Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly reads to a classroom at Kipp Elementary in Minneapolis. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minnesota Vikings defensive end is making moves during the off-season to boost youth literacy. Stephen Weatherly is hoping to be an inspiration both on and off the football field.
Wednesday at Kipp Elementary in north Minneapolis, students gave Weatherly a rousing welcome.
Vikings player shares passion for reading with Minneapolis elementary students
A Minnesota Vikings defensive end is making moves during the off-season to boost youth literacy. Stephen Weatherly is hoping to be an inspiration both on and off the football field.
A Minnesota Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly is sharing his passion for literacy to help take young students to new heights.
“I try to tell them as much as possible how important education is, and how it’s going to open doors and how it will make a lot of things later on easier,” said Weatherly.
As a child growing up in Atlanta, Georgia with a speech impediment, reading, even speaking didn’t always come easy.
“I always had a knack for math and science, social studies was pretty good,” said Weatherly. “The only thing I had a really big problem with is reading.”
Obstacles—he’d overcome.
“It was just gaining confidence,” said Weatherly.
His journey is the inspiration behind New Wave Reading, which is an incentive-based reading program encouraging students to be curious, focused and unstoppable. Each book leads to a reward with every student walking away a winner.
“It makes me feel like I want to read more and more to help me get on a certain level that I need to be on,” said third grader Myles Shelton.
“It actually means a lot because he’s doing football and at the same time he enjoys reading,” said fourth grader Jade Richmond.
Weatherly is leading by example, on and off the field.
“In 30 to 40 years, if this program has legs and we see literacy rates skyrocket and we see a whole new generation achieving things at such a younger age, and it’s because of something I started in 2019, 2020 - that would be amazing,” said Weatherly.