Miss New Jersey Visits Middle Township Elementary No. 2

Photos by Dorothy Sheehan.
COURT HOUSE – Miss New Jersey, Cara Maureen McCollum, brought her “Giving the Gift of Reading” initiative to Nicole DelCorio’s third grade class at Middle Township Elementary No. 2 March 18. As March is the birth-month of Dr. Seuss and Read Across America, DelCorio thought it would be wonderful to have McCollum visit her class and read to the children.
McCollum’s platform, as Miss New Jersey, is giving the gift of reading, an effort she promotes through a program in which she collects and distributes books to children for their birthdays. This is something she began as a high school student in her native state, Arkansas. “I wrote a letter to her business agent and she accepted our invitation,” explained DelCorio. “The students are so excited.”
McCollum arrived bedecked with her Miss New Jersey crown and sash. She is no stranger to the Cape May County area, having lived in Court House for a short time. Her first pageant crown was won in Avalon, as Miss Island Resort. At the time she was a student at Princeton University majoring in English. After winning the Miss New Jersey contest she took a year off from her studies at Princeton where she is a senior.
The students peppered her with questions ranging from “What is your favorite book?” to “Do you know who your neighbors are?”
To the former she answered, “Gail Carson Levine’s, ‘Ella Enchanted.’ And to the latter she confessed she did not know her neighbors, adding, “I haven’t been home very much recently.” When McCollum asked the third graders if they would like her to read to them, they enthusiastically shouted a collective, “Yes!”
McCollum then gave an animated rendering of ‘Skippy John Jones’ to the students’ delight. More questions including, “Is there a Mr. New Jersey?” and “Are the diamonds in your tiara real?” were asked and then followed with the students singing their original song, ‘Dr. Seuss, We Love You.’
McCollum explained that reading can take students any place they want to go, both literally and figuratively. “You don’t always win at everything but you can learn from reading stories about others who overcame,” she said. “You pick yourself back up and keep going.”
“I wanted the children to see the connection between reading and success beyond the classroom in their real lives,” said DelCorio. “I thought having Miss New Jersey come and read would demonstrate that.” The students presented McCollum with a box full of books. She was touched and promised to wrap them all individually and give each one to a child who did not get much for their birthday and to whom this book would be a real treat.
“I am so overwhelmed and feeling extraordinarily blessed,” McCollum said.
Principal Douglas Penkethman made an appearance during which he had a few questions of his own. Penkethman thanked McCollum for promoting reading and asked if she had other interests. She replied that she was a dance teacher, a cheerleader and a tennis player.
In the Miss America contest McCollum’s talent was playing the piano. She told students that when her reign representing the Garden State is over she will return to Princeton University to complete her studies. She promised to “never leave New Jersey.”
To contact Helen McCaffrey, email hmccaffrey@cmcherald.com.