PORT TOWNSEND — Five Blue Heron Middle School students, one from each grade, won new bikes in a promotion tied to the completion of reading homework.
Throughout the school year, students received tickets when they finished reading assignments.
Those tickets were put in bags at a school assembly on Friday, with one name drawn from each grade.
The bikes were purchased by the Port Townsend Masonic Lodge from Walmart in Sequim, which provided an 18 percent discount on the bikes and supplied a helmet to each winner.
This is the program’s third year, and includes a $400 cash contribution to the school library on behalf of the Masons.
The students who won the drawing were fourth-grader Baxter Walker, fifth-grader Theo Dunlap, sixth-grader Jason Kunz, seventh-grader Emri Kilham and eighth-grader Amelia Breithaupt.
Librarian Cheryl Brady did not keep a tally of the number of tickets but estimated there were several thousand tickets in the contest bags.
The largest number of tickets appeared to be in the fourth grade bag, with the fewest in sixth grade.
Blue Heron’s official count for the current school year is 463 students.
The bikes awarded Friday were all boys’ models, but winners are permitted to exchange them at the Walmart store as long as they have not been ridden, it was announced at the assembly.
Brady said that the Masons’ contribution was essential in getting kids to read.
“With this money, we are able to buy new books, the kinds that the kids would buy for themselves,” she said.
Dan Taylor, speaking for the Masons, said he expected the program to continue for years to come.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
