HUNTINGTON — Human beings have many incentives in life that drive them to feats great and small, with food, love, religious faith and patriotism being some of the common ones.

This year, Littleville Elementary School students were given the incentive of knowing that if they read enough, they would get to tape their principal to the wall of their gym. And on Friday, the students did just that.

At the spirited rally at the Huntington public school, students and staff took turns taping longtime Principal Megan Coburn to the wall. Coburn’s transformation from human being to duct-tape butterfly took a little more than a half an hour, with the students who had read the most getting to apply extra tape to Coburn in the school’s colors of yellow and blue.

The climax of the taping involved removing the stool that Coburn had been standing on for the taping process.

“Is she going to stay on the wall?” asked third grade teacher Jennifer Bak, who emceed the event and whose idea the reading reward originally was.

Coburn did indeed stick, and shortly thereafter the stool was replaced and Coburn was cut down.

“Good job all of you,” said Coburn, addressing the students assembled.

The reading event this year was called the “March Madness Reading Challenge,” and its slogan was “Let’s Stick To Reading.”

“I had to take short shallow breaths,” Coburn said of being stuck to the wall. “It was a little nerve-wracking when they took the stool out from under me.”

However, she said the rest of the experience was fun, and the kids were very cute when they were sticking tape to her.

Bak typically pushes for the school to do a yearly reading challenge, she said.

“Usually every year it has something to do with embarrassing me,” Coburn said, noting that one year she dressed up as Taylor Swift.

Coburn is leaving her position as principal this month for a new job, a development that saddens Bak.

“I whispered in her ear that we didn’t want her to leave,” Bak said, saying she did so while doing her part with the taping.

Bak said that she came up with the idea for the taping reward from an internet search. In order to get it, students had to read an average of 400 minutes over the four weeks of the challenge, or 20 minutes a school day per student. The students more than exceeded this mark, reading a collective total of 109,000 minutes.

Bak said that they presented Coburn with a number of options this year, and that the principal was the one who selected the taping.

Third grader Lila Castro, a member of Bak’s class, was one of  the students who beat the target mark — reading 4,915 minutes in a week’s time alone.

“I do like to read,” Lila said.

William Green, another third grader, said he liked how the challenge encouraged him to read more, and that his favorite book he read during the  challenge was “Knights and Castles: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #2: The Knight at Dawn.”

“It was fun,” William said of getting to tape his principal.

Other third graders also had a positive assessment.

“I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite thing that’s ever happened,” said Alice Pringle.

The favorite book that she read during the challenge was the graphic novel version of “The Dark Secret,” Book 4 in the “Wings of Fire” series.

Ashley Saalfrank, meanwhile, said her favorite part of the challenge was “just getting time to read.”

For Norah Cormier, the best part was “being able to read graphic novels and also being able to stick our teacher to the wall before she leaves on April 14.”

Addie Lucas, however, expressed mixed feelings.

“Yes, because it was fun, and no because it looked like Ms. Coburn was having a horrible time,” Lucas said.

Bak also made TikTok videos to inspire her students to read in the challenge, something that students mentioned with enthusiasm.

“Most teachers they say that we should get off our screens,” said Sidney Besancon. “But she inspired us to read by using TikTok.”

]]>