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April 7, 2009
Naperville, IL – Nicor announced today the final assembly to congratulate the students, faculty, and parents of Zenon J. Sykuta Elementary School in Country Club Hills on a third successful year of participating in the Adventures in Reading with Nicor program. Sykuta’s students have read more than 5,000 books this year, and to celebrate that great feat, the program’s super hero – Super Reader – will visit the school to award the students with prizes.
“Over the past three years, it has been very gratifying to see the students of Sykuta grow their reading abilities by exploring the wonderful adventures that exist in books. Sykuta is an excellent example of what students can do when a support network of teachers, parents, and community come together to encourage and celebrate their accomplishments,” said Claudia Colalillo, Senior Vice President Human Resources and Philanthropy for Nicor Inc. and Nicor Gas.
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.
At this year’s final assembly, 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 by personally congratulating the students for becoming “super readers.” In the three years since Sykuta joined the Adventures in Reading with Nicor program, the students have read more than 15,000 books.
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. | 
