The Hazel Strauch Elementary cafeteria buzzed with anticipation as students, parents and teachers gathered for a huge end-of-year celebration which included a visit from Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, who read students a book that she wrote.
Yamaguchi has a nonprofit called Always Dream with an Always Reading program that provides digital and physical books along with family engagement to underserved children.
The program provided the students of Hazel Strauch Elementary with purple tablets loaded with an app that grants them access to library books, which teachers used for classroom learning.
“We are especially honored today to welcome our featured guest, Kristi Yamaguchi,” said the school's principal Cheryl Chandler. “Through her work as an author and literacy champion, she reminds us that strong reading skills and encouragement from caring adults help lay the foundation for success in school and in life.”
The book, “Cara’s Kindness,” is all about being a good friend and passing kindness forward, according to Yamaguchi.
“I don't think kids can hear it enough about how easy it is to be kind or to be a good friend,” Yamaguchi said. “And like good karma, it will come back to you.”
Kristi Yamaguchi reads her "Cara's Kindness" book to students at Hazel Strauch Elementary School Monday May 4, 2026.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio
Yamaguchi said, along with Hazel Strauch, there are 40 schools in her reading program that serve close to 6,000 students annually.
“We provide literacy resources via digital tablet with access to thousands of digital books as well as physical hard copy books, and our dream is to provide them with these resources, but also pair it with family engagement,” she said. “It's really about involving the primary caregivers at home on how to play that important role of the at-home educator, reading with them, connecting with them, developing that reading which becomes the foundation for their education.”
Chandler said since it’s an Olympic year, it’s exciting to have a gold medalist at the elementary.
“The teachers were really excited, because many of us are her same age and watched her,” she said. “It was fun going into the classrooms and seeing the teacher show skating videos of her and medal videos of her, and it's just wonderful being able to welcome her to our school.”
Students were able to ask the gold medalist questions and take photos with her after the book reading. Yamaguchi surprised the kids with the announcement they would be able to take a copy of the book home and they could keep the tablets as long as they continue to read.
Chandler also thanked the Always Reading nonprofit for supporting the school.
“I think that [the students] were excited to see her and meet her, especially when we told them that she was responsible for giving them their purple tablets,” Chandler said.
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