Southampton Glebe Primary students yesterday began a reading drive inspired by the late US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The children, who were scheduled to march from Somerset Post Office to the school yard as a symbolic reenactment of Dr. King's march to Washington in 1963, instead marched in their school courtyard.

Raymond Smith, a teacher at Dellwood Middle School, read to the children from the original "I have a Dream'' speech given by Dr. King in Washington D.C. in August, 1963.

After that, he answered questions from the students.

The children asked insightful questions such as: "Why did they use fire hoses on the marchers? When did they stop segregation? Why did they want segregation? Who shot Dr. King?, and How old would Dr. King be if he was alive today?'' "Sometimes people concentrate more on what's different than what is alike between us,'' Mr. Smith. "In Bermuda there was segregation. Some of your grandparents went to school where only black people went to and some people went to school where only white people went to.

"It was around 1960 when Bermuda made laws to stop segregation and allow black people to go to the same schools as whites.'' The children were taken outside into the courtyard for a second march, singing "We shall overcome'' and carrying signs with freedom slogans on them.

Mr. Smith told the children how Dr. King was influenced to read by watching his father preaching from the pulpit.

"He started to read. The more he read, he brighter he got,'' Mr. Smith said.

"By starting to read at a young age, just like Dr. King, you can be free.'' The school also took advantage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to launch an ambitious new reading programme called Reading Counts.

The programme was initiated through the Madeline Joell Nest Egg Fund from ACE Insurance. See Business, Page 10 The nest egg fund, named after the late ACE Bermuda Vice President of Marketing, will be presented to primary schools each year.

"Primary schools can apply each year to get a grant, our grant was accepted,'' principal Gladston Thompson said. "I wanted to show them, ACE Insurance, that the money was well spent.'' ACE representatives Gary Schmalzriedt, president and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Bermuda and Wendy Davis Johnson, Director of Communications at Ace Ltd., were present to witness the programme's inauguration.

"It's been a long time since I've been in school,'' Mr. Schmalzriedt said.

"It's fun to see everybody here...I'm looking forward to this morning to seeing how you're going to use the tools that we have furnished to you I hope everybody is enjoying them so far.'' Ms Johnson said: "We worked on the programme that you are part of this year and we hope, for a long time to come.

Ten-year-old Braxton Steede presented Ms Johnson with a bouquet of flowers.

Braxton, as a student assistant to Mr. Thompson in the Reading Counts programme, plays an important role in the programme.

"It's fun,'' Braxton said. "What I do is sit down and get them started in the (computer) test (which the students take after reading a book). Then I read my books. After I do that, I do my work. I enjoy that I can help everybody do their test.'' The programme, for Primary grades four, five and six, is based on a point system.

Each child reads a book then completes a test on the computer, Mr. Thompson explained..

"So far, our highest test score was three points,'' he said. "However, I know we can read more books and get a better score.

"The goal is to reach 2,000 points. So far, we have a total of eight points.

We have a long way, but I believe we can reach our goal.

"Ten points will earn you a free grub day, any day you choose. Twenty points will earn you a sticker, certificate, pen or pencil. Thirty points will earn you a pizza party.'' "ACE challenged the primary school to put together a reading programme that they could fund,'' Mr. Thompson added.

The programme, which was ordered by former Southampton Glebe principal Eunice Jones, impressed the representatives of ACE Insurance so well that they donated $10,000 for the programme.

"The only responsible thing to do is to get that programme up and running,'' Mr. Thompson said. "I've taken responsibility for getting it up and running.

We are aggressively and actively involved in putting that money to good use.

We want to challenge our school to gain the 2,000 points goal.'' Ms Johnson said: "We have assisted eight schools, on the Island. This is the first school we have been able to visit. This is exciting.'' Reading counts: ACE Ltd.'s director of communications Wendy Davis Johnson is pictured with ten-year-old Braxton Steede who is assisting Southampton Glebe Primary principal Gladston Thompson in the Reading Counts programme. Standing behind them is ACE Bermuda president Gary Schmalzriedt.