October's featured council is the Mississippi Reading Association (MRA) in the Magnolia State. MRA Past President Stacy Reeves took a few moments to share what is so valuable about the diversity and enthusiam of MRA members with Reading Today Online.

MRA is a Kaleidoscope of Literacy Professionals: we have very different backgrounds while holding various titles and positions including classroom teachers, university and college professors, administrators, retired educators, preservice teachers, community leaders, assistant teachers, AmeriCorps tutors and trainers, and others. We are united by the belief that literacy benefits all people in our communities, our state, our nation, and our world.

We are a small group, but when we come together, unified in one voice for the progression of literacy, we are mighty in force. We lead by example in our classes, our teaching environments, our communities, and our centers of learning.

We are joined in agreement in the Mississippi Reading Association and we belong to our local reading councils, too; additionally, we guide our schools and districts to success, and many of us serve in various ways for the MS Department of Education, for national groups, and for international groups across a variety of subjects and areas. One of our coalescent factors is concern for the betterment of others through literacy teaching and learning.

We know that our state has far to go, but we also know the riches that it holds and that there are many resources which have not yet been tapped. We are not finished leading students to the treasures found in reading and the resources available in communicating through writing, speaking, and listening. We support IRA and one way we do that is through our 2012 State Conference titled, “Reading in 3-D” to be held December 2-5. Information which may be accessed at www.ms/. For more information about Mississippi Reading Association, please contact Stacy.Reeves@usm.edu, past president 2012-2013.

Pictured at the 2010 conference in Biloxi, MS, at the Beau Rivage Resort: an AmeriCorps tutor, Pat Ross (president 2010-2011); Janice Cate (treasurer for past several years), Anne Matheny (president 2012-2013), Phyllis Armstrong (Pine Belt Reading Council, Hattiesburg, MS), Stacy Reeves (past president 2012-2013), author Jon Scieszka, Stephanie Peets (membership director for past several years), Tracie Bernard (secretary 2010-2013), and Lauren Hutto (president of Pine Belt Reading Council, Hattiesburg, MS).