Cedar Park Elementary students were filled with excitement Thursday as Selma High seniors arrived at their school to read to them.

The visitors, Miss Selma High Askhari Little and Mr. Selma High Martravious Stallworth, also visited Knox Elementary, Meadowview Elementary and Clark Elementary students this week to do the same.

Normally, the school’s entire Student Government Association does it, but the two wanted to make a special trip themselves.

“Children need people who are wiling to spend time with them, and let them know that they’re special,” Little said. “And reading is a key part of excelling in life, because you can learn so many knew things.”

Little and Stallworth read “Snowball Soup” with enthusiasm, encouraging the students to help them act out some of actions described in the book.

Cedar Park Elementary Principal Doris Cureton said bringing the books to life through reading aloud is a key step in making books exciting to children. When they kids find reading fun, they are more willing to do it on a regular basis, she said.

“I think it’s more beneficial when the students are being read to than when they read silently,” Cureton said. “When someone reads the book to you, it just brings so much life and so much meaning to that book.”

Not only did the two read to the children, but they also spoke to them about the importance of practicing good behavior, what gifts the students wanted for the holidays and how the kids could become Mr. or Miss Selma High one day.

Right before Mr. and Ms. Selma High left, they embraced the students, who all seemed to be eager to hug them and touch their tiara and crown.

“It makes us feel so good when they come up to hug us, because it means they are learning,” Little said. “They are getting something from us.”