"Just because school is out doesn’t mean we have to stop learning or reading," said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, "Studies have shown that children who read during the summer perform better in school in the fall." To encourage continued summer reading, Paulin offered an incentive program for all young readers and their parents. Parents were told to mark every day on the Summer Reading Challenge calendar that they read with their children and, when forty days had been marked, the children became eligible for the New York State Assembly Excellence in Reading Certificate.

Twenty-five students completed the challenge and all were invited on Wednesday, November 9 to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin’s District Office where the certificates were ceremoniously distributed. "It was my honor to have all the great young readers in my office," Paulin added, noting the moment when, in one corner, two young boys were reading a book together and, in another space, a group of new friends were discussing preferences in the books they had read.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin reflected on the purpose of the event, "Today with so many visual stimulations through media, it has become harder and harder to get kids to appreciate the printed word. Programs like this encourage and reinforce all forms of reading, a strength that will remain an element of these children’s lives into adulthood."