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March 20, 2009
 Naperville, IL – On Tuesday, March 24th, Super Reader will return to visit Smith Elementary School in Aurora to congratulate students for completing their first year in the Adventures in Reading with Nicor program and successfully reading nearly 6,000 books.
"Nicor is proud of the tremendous effort and success that the students of Smith School have achieved in their first year of participating in our program," said Claudia Colalillo, Senior Vice President Human Resources and Philanthropy for Nicor Inc. and Nicor Gas.
During the assembly, Smith School's K-3rd grade students will be treated to a visit from Nicor's costumed super hero – Super Reader – who will wrap up this year's program at an assembly where he will personally congratulate the students for becoming "super readers." "Nicor is dedicated to the well-being of our communities. We know lending our support to help provide children with more educational opportunities will lead to their success in the future which is important for the entire community," continued Colalillo.
Adventures in Reading with Nicor is a unique reading program designed to foster a life-long love of reading among children through a four pronged approach: providing free books to students and their parents, presenting professional development training for teachers and special coaching sessions for parents, contributing motivational prizes and activities, and providing Nicor volunteers for each of the events.
The Adventures in Reading with Nicor program began in 2006 and since then has been administered at three schools within Nicor's service territory. To launch the program, Nicor partnered with the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit children's literacy organization, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF). RIF has been developing and implementing programs to help encourage children to read since 1966. For information on Reading Is Fundamental, visit www.rif.org.
Since the program's inception more than 5,000 students have been encouraged to read over 80,000 books. To find out more about Adventures in Reading visit www.nicor.com.
Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) is a holding company and is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Its primary business is Nicor Gas, one of the nation's largest natural gas distribution companies. Nicor owns Tropical Shipping, a containerized shipping business serving the Caribbean region and the Bahamas. In addition, the company owns and has an equity interest in several energy-related businesses. For more information, visit the Nicor Web site at www.nicor.com. | 
