NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (March 3, 2026) - A group of students gather around a man in a Navy uniform. Their eyes are wide in excitement and their faces focused on the man in camouflage. They raise their hands, nearly falling over each other, to ask questions and make various silly and thoughtful comments. Not of him, but of the book he is holding.
This was the scene in many a classroom at David G. Farragut Rota Elementary School on Tuesday, March 3, as more than 20 Navy and Air Force service members and Department of War civilian counterparts took a little time away from their Outlook emails and meetings to read to children from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade. Even leadership took part with Naval Station Rota’s command triad all participating alongside several supported command leaders.
This was a part of the school’s celebration of Read Across Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) Day, an annual event mirroring the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day. Read Across America Day was launched in 1998 to promote the advancement of and motivation for reading among school-age children and is normally celebrated on March 2 every year. It also shares the special status of lining up with the birthday of the great children’s writer, Dr. Seuss.
For the celebration, readers got to choose from a stack of popular children’s tomes. I personally chose "Space Dog" by Mini Grey, a book about a dog astronaut exploring the universe and saving planets from certain doom. Along the way, he meets the typical nemeses of space dogs, space cats and space mice; however, they work through their differences and team up, continuing to explore the universe and save the various wacky food creatures that live among it.
The theme of the book Space Dog, teamwork, is a reminder of the power of books to teach children important values and lessons. One of Read Across America Day’s goals is to link the messages in books to experiences and lessons in kids’ daily lives. When kids create those text to world links, the reading feedback loop begins and a lifelong love of reading can develop.
Unfortunately, that loving feeling for reading has been lacking across America. The National Report Card’s most recent analysis in 2024 reporting a sharp decrease in elementary and middle school reading performance at low and moderate abilities and stagnation at higher percentiles. This is an omen that is reflected in the adult population today with Americans over 14 years old reading for personal reasons for an average of only 17 minutes per day.
If anything, though, the strong support from the Rota community and DoWEA educators demonstrates that this omen is not a foregone conclusion for the children of tomorrow. The excitement of Rota’s students is a clear sign of interest and many of the books read reinforced positive habits and values to reflect in their daily lives. So, if you haven’t already, why not pick up a book and go on an adventure together?
| Date Taken: |
03.02.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
04.10.2026 11:47 |
| Story ID: |
562443 |
| Location: |
ROTA, ES |
| Web Views: |
13 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, Reading is FUNdamental: community shows out to annual “Read Across DoWEA”, by LT Daniel Ehrlich, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
