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Former Ducks player JF Jomphe, TV analyst Brian Hayward, Wild Wing, Power Players and members of the Ducks staff all took part in the sixth annual Ducks S.C.O.R.E. Reading is the Goal Day on Friday at Fairmont Elementary School in Yorba Linda. Each Ducks representative took part with the purpose of encouraging and inspiring the students to achieve their reading goals.

Reading is the Goal Day is themed around promoting literacy and education. Ducks staff members visited with individual classrooms throughout the morning and early afternoon and read to them from various books. That was followed by street hockey for the students, organized by the Ducks Street Team, on the school’s playground. The event culminated with an assembly in which Hayward and Jomphe took part in a Q&A with students, and Hayward read from the hockey-themed book Brady Brady and the Great Rink.

The Ducks also donated an an autographed team jersey and a full set of street hockey equipment to the school, which was presented by Wild Wing and the Power Players to the elation of the students and principal Julie Lucas.

“It was just an outstanding day for us,” Lucas said. “Especially in this day and age when budgets are being cut and there is not as much extra that we can do for the kids, it’s outstanding to be able to bring this into the school, to be able to share the street hockey with the kids and everything. We have a lot of kids that have an interest in the street hockey, and they’ll be even more motivated now.”

Reading is the Goal, a division of the Ducks’ award-winning S.C.O.R.E. (Scholastic Curriculum of Recreation and Education) program, is a free program to all fourth-grade students in Southern California and is made possible by the Anaheim Ducks Foundation. The mission of the Anaheim Ducks Foundation is to facilitate and support programs that produce positive change for children and families throughout Southern California by providing educational opportunities, broadening access to the sport of hockey and addressing the health and wellness needs of our community. The program rewards students for their time spent reading per day within a 30-day period. Its goals are to convey the importance of reading as the foundation to success and to begin cultivating a love for reading amongst the participants in the program.

The Ducks S.C.O.R.E. program was developed in 2005 with the ultimate goal of promoting healthy living and academic excellence to all students in Southern California. A past recipient (2008) of the statewide Celebrate Literacy Award, the Ducks were recognized by the California Reading Association (CRA) for the high regard given to the Ducks S.C.O.R.E. program by the teachers and students from the schools in Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties where the programs are implemented. In addition to Reading is the Goal, S.C.O.R.E. also provides a street hockey program to over 50 schools, school supplies to close to 20,000 students and the multiple-subject First Flight Field Trip.

“We’re thrilled that the Anaheim Ducks S.C.O.R.E. Program, which includes Friday’s Reading is the Goal Day, has 27,000 participating children and more than 200,000 since its launch in 2005,” said Ducks Director of Fan Development Matt Savant. “We’re also grateful for the support from the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, which has helped to make this program possible.”

For more information on the Anaheim Ducks S.C.O.R.E. program, please visit www.ducksscore.com.