Jack Day ‘26, ‘27 DPT, has lots of titles: vice president of Student Government Association, student hall manager of North Hall, and community outreach chair for Dance Marathon, just to name a few. He thrives in positions of leadership and looks for any opportunity to make a difference in his community. That’s why he founded one of St. Ambrose University’s fastest growing clubs on campus – Bee Readers.
“I’m someone who believes if you have the means to serve others or give of yourself, you should,” the Track 1 Doctor of Physical Therapy student said.
In high school, Day was part of a leadership group of student athletes that read to elementary school students. “I loved it,” Day recalled of the experience. “When I got here, I thought, ‘You know what? I think this would be a great program for the community.’”
He was right. According to data published by the U.S. News & World Report from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic school years, reading proficiency among middle and elementary school students in the Davenport Community School District sat below 50 percent.
“It’s an area of growth for the community and the district,” Day said. “That was kind of the nudge that I needed, like, ‘Yeah, I think this would be a good fit here.’ And nothing against the teachers or administrators, they’re all fantastic! But this is an opportunity for St. Ambrose students to serve and help even just a little bit.”
Day is earning his undergraduate degree in exercise science and enrolled in the Track 1 Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, allowing him to begin PT classes during his senior year at SAU. It may seem out of the norm for a health sciences major to be interested in literacy among local elementary school students. But at St. Ambrose, Day says, students are encouraged to take an interpersonal approach to health care, and there is a strong focus on social determinants of health.
“Reading is a life skill. You need to be able to read for everything. If you don't have a certain level of proficiency, you’re much more likely to end up in prison, poverty, homeless, whatever it might be.
“The connection between things such as the education, health, and financial status of individuals is very interesting to me. While I understand that there may not necessarily be a direct causal relationship between reading proficiency and health, it is clear there is a correlation, and one could argue there is a causal relationship when it comes to things like reading food labels, recipes, etc.”
With the help of Ryan Saddler, associate vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, Day was able to connect with administrators in the Davenport Community School District and launch the Bee Readers program at Madison Elementary School in October 2023. Every other week, St. Ambrose students go to the elementary school and read to K-third grade classes.
When the program began, Day had 15 volunteers. By the beginning of the spring 2024 semester that number had nearly doubled, and it only continued to grow as the semester progressed.
“That’s when I realized I needed a little help,” Day said.
He added three assistant directors to his team, including Norah Perkins ’25, another health sciences student at the university.
“Jack built a really good foundation for the program,” the biology major said. “I have a passion for serving, especially kids. Even though I am pursuing the medical profession – I hope to attend physician assistant school after graduation – I am looking at pediatrics specifically. And so that does tie a little bit into my profession. I want to be able to learn how to better engage with a younger population.”
Now, a year after starting the program, Bee Readers has nearly 80 volunteers and has expanded to a second school – Adams Elementary. Both juniors at St. Ambrose, Day and Perkins are thinking about the future and have lofty goals to ensure the program remains long after they graduate.
“There's a lot of goals,” Perkins said. “We’re starting the expansion process and hope to go into more elementary schools. In order to do that we need to recruit more volunteers. We’re working with some of the sports teams to increase our volunteer pool.”
Another avenue they’re exploring to increase the reach and impact of the Bee Readers program is to introduce it into the Davenport high schools.
“They would be doing the same thing as us, going into the elementary schools and reading to students,” Perkins said.
“If we are able to get into high schools, then some of the kids that we're reading to right now, when they get to high school, they’ll be able to go back to their elementary school and help the next generation of students. I think that would be really special,” Day said.
Day says the goal is to ensure Bee Readers remains an active club on campus long after he leaves the university.
“We want Bee Readers to be here ten years from now,” Day said. “There are some clubs that exist for four years while the students who started the club are here, and then the club goes away. So, part of our role as leaders is identifying underclassmen right now that can start to elevate themselves in the program and take on our roles when we graduate.”
Students interested in joining the Bee Readers program can email Day – dayjackl@cnof86.com.
