By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
February 5, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — If students in Kansas City Public Schools read enough, they could party with Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson.

Last month, Johnson stopped by the Crispus Attucks Elementary School to kick-off a city wide literacy challenge called Hitting the Books. The challenge, part of Johnson’s Defend the Dream Foundation and Scholastic’s Read 100,000 national initiative, asks every student across Kansas City to read 20 minutes a day for the rest of the school year. Students are asked to log their minutes online at www.scholastic.com/minutes. The goal for each school is to read a combined 100,000 minutes for the chance to win a celebratory party with Johnson at the end of this school year.

“It’s an opportunity to help me get the students reading more by creating this reading challenge,” Johnson said. “At this elementary age, we want to reinforce that school is fun.”

When he stopped by the school, Johnson told the students about the challenge, took some questions from students and spent a couple minutes reading to everyone. Johnson told the school he never had a challenge like this when he was in school, but he wishes he had. According to KCPS officials, a child who reads 20 minutes a day for fun, at least three times a week will score in the 80th percentile on standardized tests. The challenge has the potential to impact over 37,000 KCPS students.

“Sometimes what I say has more influence that what the parents or teachers say and that means I have to use that influence to the best of my ability,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he couldn’t think of a better way to give back to the students of Kansas City by hosting this reading challenge. He’s always been inspired by his mother, whose been a school teacher for over 40 years, and he wanted to create a program that challenged them mentally.

“Whatever you want to be in life, it starts with education,” Johnson said. “If you want to change the world, it starts in the classroom.”

During the assembly, Johnson mentioned how he preaches reading to his own kids. With those words of wisdom, he’s already looking past his playing career and how he could incorporate that teaching into a second career.

“I want to be a mentor to the youth whereever I’m at [either living in Texas or Kansas City] because of the influence I have through the NFL, I have the kids’ attention,” Johnson said. “I want to be an extra set of hands outside of the household they’re in to let them know they can do it.”

Johnson founded the Defend the Dream Foundation in 2013 with the mission to provide low income and inner-city youth with opportunities and educational resources to reach their full potential. In the last two years, Johnson said he’s increased his foundation’s participation in Kansas City communities. For more information about the foundation visit www.DerrickJohnson56.org.