Bookworms : Principal Gobbles Creepy Crawlers to Mark Read-a-Thon’s Success

It was a promise that Shirley DiRado, principal at Colfax Avenue Elementary School, knew she couldn’t wiggle out of.

Six weeks ago, she vowed to eat a live worm in front of students who read at least two books in this year’s Read-a-Thon. On Friday, it was pay-up time as about 350 students--more than half the school’s enrollment--packed the auditorium to see if DiRado would really do it.

In the end, the administrator gobbled not one, but three squirming mealworms--one for the television crew, who said they might have to leave early, one to make good on her promise and one to spur children to read one more book.

“I’ve been an educator too long to be nervous or scared,” DiRado said between her first and second grubs. But, she confessed while patting her stomach: “It’s still in there, and I’m trying not to think about it.”

The principal took on the challenge after the Read-a-Thon chairman told her that interest in the program was flagging. DiRado decided that live worms would be the perfect bait to get children hooked on reading.

DiRado the performer took over from DiRado the principal as she selected the “fattest, juiciest” worm from a silvery platter. The school nurse jokingly stood at the ready with a stretcher to heighten the drama. A drum roll commenced. Television cameras from local stations focused. Children from kindergarten through sixth grade gasped, laughed and cheered as DiRado gulped the invertebrate.

A moment later, in a sleight of hand that would do Houdini proud, the principal--putting on a look of bafflement--pulled yards of colorful streamers from her mouth.

Because of DiRado’s pledge, the number of students who participated in the Read-a-Thon doubled this year, said program chairman Paige Gage. Proceeds from the project help fund the federal Reading Is Fundamental program at the school, which encourages children to read through the distribution of free books, a poster contest and bookmark making.

In the Read-a-Thon, sponsors pledge money for each book a child reads. Kindergarten, first-grade and special-education students can get credit for books read to them.

Mealworms, which are not true worms but beetle larvae, were chosen because they are bred in bran and are less likely than earthworms to carry germs, Gage said.

By all accounts, the stunt was a success. Students said they did their reading in hopes of being allowed to attend the assembly and they intend to keep on reading.

“I realized that reading was fun. It was cool,” said Kandyce Rolon, 12.

DiRado is “being like a child, she’s relating to us,” said sixth-grader Daniel Cerny. “It’s like fun and learning combined.”