Mcpherson said she had over 40 volunteers reading about 24 books. The tapings were made this week in the Johnston Cultural Lounge and will be shown to third and fourth graders at Houserville Elementary School in State College today.
Kat Foley (freshman-communications) sat wide-eyed and animated in front of the video camera Tuesday afternoon as she read Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, a short story geared toward the 4-8 age group.
Foley made it through Seuss' trademark tongue twisters and a plethora of invented words with only a few slips. She said she has worked with children on many occasions and has seen first-hand the importance of reading.
"If you have a positive experience with reading as a child you'll be more likely to read in school and work and be a faster reader," Foley said.
Mcpherson said students should be aware many children look up to them.
"I was hoping that if the young people would be able to see that the college students still love reading, still can get a little silly sometimes with something like Dr. Seuss and maybe stumble over words and keep on going, then that's going to encourage them to have a lifelong love of reading," she said.
A year ago, Mcpherson put together a bulletin board about literacy in Pollock Commons. She and other employees were encouraged by the reactions of passing residents.
"We would hear the comments (from students)," she said. " 'Oh, Dr. Seuss. Cool. I loved reading Dr. Seuss.' "
Mcpherson decided she wanted to get students actively involved in the celebration this year.
"I knew even though they were college-aged students there was still part of them that were enjoying Dr. Seuss," she said. "I thought maybe it would be something college students would enjoy doing."
Mcpherson put together a small collection of books with help from friends, neighbors, local libraries and her own home so volunteers could have a wide variety of Dr. Seuss books to choose from.
Mcpherson said "family reading time" has been an important part of the upbringing of her three sons, all under age 12. Even though they can read by themselves now, they still enjoy being read to. When she was gathering books, fond recollections of Dr. Seuss' books returned to her children, she said.
"You can see that the memory is so strong for them," Mcpherson said. "It's such a positive experience that I would never want them to go without."
Jessica Lebovic (freshman-advertising) and her friend Julie Heitzer (freshman-liberal arts) volunteered to read Green Eggs and Ham, arguably the most popular book from the Seuss collection.
Lebovic agreed to wear the familiar, tall, red-and-white striped hat from The Cat in the Hat for the taping, on the condition no one she knows see the video. Lebovic agreed that reading to children is important and that the Dr. Seuss books helped her when she was first learning to read.
Both Lebovic and Heitzer said they are glad students are interacting with the State College community.
"I think it's a great project and it's really good Penn State's getting involved in it and we can help the kids," Heitzer said.
Students who participated in the readings were given a certificate of appreciation from Residence Life with the Read Across America logo and a map of the United States with the Cat in the Hat tipping his hat to it.
Mcpherson says the response from students has been so positive that she hopes to make the readings an annual event. She has several ideas for the future, including reading books in different languages, taking the tapes to several schools and age groups, and transporting students to schools to read to live audiences.
Send an 
