Wow what a game! Regardless of who you were cheering for everyone can agree that the Super Bowl ads are very entertaining.  Here are Reading Horizons employees' favorties commercial from the 2010 Super Bowl based on vote (#1 being the most popular):

#1 Doritios - Kid: 50%

#2 E-Trade Jealous girlfriend: 20%

#3 Casual Friday: 15%

#4 Snickers - Betty White: 10%

#5 Coke - Simpsons: 5%

Today I found this article from the US News called “21 Things We're Learning to Live Without” . The article discusses the things people are giving up because of the recession and the high unemployment rate.  Before reading the article I knew without a doubt that learning to read, or reading in general would not make the list.  We need to be able to read.  It can be a solution to overcoming unemployment and other negative effects of the economy.  Reading opens up an incalculable amount of knowledge that can help us solve a wide range of problems.  Not only does reading help us by offering information and education but it also offers a cheap form of entertainment- yet another way reading can help us in the current economy.

  
We recently published an article on our At Home website titled: “Reading Horizons is a Proven Job Performance Skill Booster” which discusses how Reading Horizons can help both unemployed and employed individuals.  Check out the job performance skill boster article.

As I’ve perused the news lately its no surprise to find several articles on the Super Bowl airing this Sunday.  However, the story that has been the most prevalent is about a large company which has decided not to advertise through commercials during what is possibly the biggest commercial event of the year.  I’m fascinated by Pepsi’s decision to opt out of the tradition despite its competitor, Coke’s, plans for a big Super Bowl appearance.  It’s interesting because Pepsi is probably getting the most attention in regards to the Super Bowl, and it’s not even participating.  Instead of airing commercials Pepsi is launching a social media campaign.  Pepsi’s reasoning for its decision is described in this excerpt from Yahoo! News:

“To Pepsi, and to companies around the world, the days when mass-market media is the sole vehicle to reach an audience are officially over. Instead of pouring millions of dollars into a Super Bowl commercial, Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its "Pepsi Refresh" initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education.”

Clearly the initiative that is of most interest to our company is education.  The article also states the prices for each commercial slot as costing between $2.5 to $3 million.  It’s amazing how much money is spent to get 30 seconds of air time for a 3 hour event when that money could go to something of much more significance such as education and the other projects Pepsi is investing in.  I commend Pepsi for focusing more on others than its own company- it turns out doing so has made Pepsi a huge focus in the media.       

We at Reading Horizons were saddened by the news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  Farah, one of our employees, has been helping us test our Haitian-Creole software and she had family living in Haiti while she was attending school in Idaho.  We were concerned about her family and tried to keep in touch with Farah and she learned their status.  In a very sad email she informed us that her mother had died.  She was one of the thousands who lost her life in the earthquake.

 
As employees we wanted to do something to help and to show Farah that our love and support are with her. Together we raised $500 and were able to put together 110 hygiene kits to send to a relief agency for the people in Haiti.  We hope that our contribution can make a difference for at least 110 struggling families.

This week President Obama made his State of the Union Presidential Address.  I don’t want to critique his plan but I thought this was a powerful statement: “In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.  And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.” 

Regardless of political affiliations, no one can disagree with that statement.  Every child deserves a chance to be educated with the best materials available.  Of course this isn’t always possible.  But the instant I heard him make that statement I yearned for every child to be able to be taught with an explicit systematic phonics program like Reading Horizons.  I had been reviewing some of the video recordings of our success stories earlier that day and was reinvigorated hearing teachers and students explain what our program has done for their lives.  I would love for every student and every struggling reader to be able to be taught with our program.  I truly believe that students would find more success and the number of struggling readers would decrease dramatically, not just marginally.  I truly believe it would make a HUGE difference in education and the success of all students!  My amendment to President Obama’s comment would be that every student should be taught using an explicit, systematic phonics program like Reading Horizons- it would make his powerful statement less of a dream and more of a reality.