Race to Success celebrates elementary students exceeding in math skills with new bicycles

Just before winter break, 15 elementary students got the surprise of a lifetime- a brand new bicycle, picked out just for them. These students worked hard to improve their math skills for a chance to win a bike, but the kids didn’t know they were one of the most improved math students at their school until they saw the prize first-hand.

The most-improved male and female math students from Kindergarten-2nd Grade, 3rd-5th Grade and the highest achieving 5th-grader from Northwest Elementary School, Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School and Southeast Elementary School were all awarded these brand-new bicycles fortheir dedication and progress in math during the first semester.

Race to Success is sponsored by S.J.G. Greater Sports LLC. and the Lambda Pi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. Donyell Bryant, president of S.J.G. Greater Sports LLC., started the competition to recognize students’ hard work. It’s a precursor to a larger event across LCPS, Math Madness, that will be held later in the year. Bryant was inspired to create these events by George Stackhouse and Tommy Cooke Sr., who would fix up old bicycles and donate them to underprivileged children in the area.

“Math is universal,” Bryant said. “It gives the kids something to work for, and I saw a great improvement from the kids in all the schools.”

Race to Success started out at Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School, but this year Bryant decided to expand to Northwest and Southeast Elementary Schools as well. He said his favorite part of delivering the bikes was seeing the shock and joy on students’ faces when they found out a bike was for them.

Stacy Cauley, the director of elementary education for Lenoir County Public Schools, says Race to Success is a great incentive for students to improve on skills they might be struggling with.

“We are so thankful to S.J.G. Greater Sports and the Lambda Pi Chapter for partnering with us to encourage our students to work hard to grow in their academic

performance,” Cauley said. “They have truly been able to inspire our students to put forth tremendous effort in doing their best in math. We are so thankful for their willingness to give to our students and our community.”

Hard work really does pay off. Congratulations to our students who won!

Contentnea-Savannah Students:

Sanaa Davis, Charlie Rouse, Allena Ransom, Oberlin Santos Selvan, Christopher Reecktenwald

Northwest Students:

Ezekiel Roman, R’elle Brown, Isaiah Bryant, Kezia Johnson, Action Rhodes

Southeast Students:

Terrance Speight, Karlie Basden, Devonte Ross, Elliana Johnson, Amiyah Washington