Hermosa has three-peat in READBowl

Sandy Crown’s first grade class in Hermosa is the South Dakota State Champion in the READBowl Primary Conference (K-2) for the third consecutive year. This championship resulted from reading the most minutes per team in the state over four weeks, spanning from the college football national championship game Jan. 13 through Super Bowl Sunday.
On top of that, the Hermosa Hornets first grade class was third in the primary conference nationwide and 11th in the nation when all teams in all conferences were combined. Way to make the national rankings and put the Hornets on the map!
READBowl is the World Championship of Reading, a global reading competition put on by “Read with Malcolm,” the Youth Literacy Initiative of NFL Super Bowl champion and children’s book author Malcolm Mitchell.
In total, 808,674 participants read for over 528 million minutes during the competition.
“I’m so proud to let you know that you and your team are your state champions of reading in your conference for 2025 in READBowl VIII,” Mitchell said. “With more than 800,000 students across the country and the world competing this year, your state championship win is nothing short of extraordinary.”
“The first grade Hornets were on the national leaderboard all four weeks for the primary conference. They were also on the national leaderboard during this time too,” Crown said. “The class will win a classroom set of books for the library for their victory.”  
Crown said she is proud of her class and all of the time they spent reading during this competition. The championship may be over, but Team Hornets is sure to keep up on their reading during the off-season.