Pro-golfer, KPMG partners shine spotlight on literacy for under-served South Bay students
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Monday was a busy morning for students at John J. Montgomery elementary school in South San Jose.
Local professional golfer, Maverick McNealy, and KPMG partners put the spotlight on literacy.
An early morning ribbon cutting led students into the school's newly refurbished library.
"John J. Montgomery is a Title I school," Principal Guillermo Ramos told ABC7 News. "We have many students who come from households where they have very few resources."
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Fifty KPMG volunteers and McNealy spent the weekend painting the library and putting together new furniture for the kids. This included new seating, carpet and tables, and installing a reading nook. The effort was made possible through KPMG's Family for Literacy program, or KFFL.
In addition to the new upgrades, students received a donation of more than one-thousand books- 500 as part of the refurbishment and 500 last Spring.
The donation was only a small portion of the four-million books donated through KFFL in the last ten years.
"We are measuring success by participation in how many hands and children that we can touch," KPMG partner, Lea Lind said. "To date, in Silicon Valley, we have given over 3,000 books over the past four years."
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Bay Area native and Stanford graduate, pro-golfer Maverick McNealy said his educational achievements allowed for even more success on the fairway.
"My parents always told me, 'School first, get good grades and then you can go play sports after school,'" he said.
McNealy is the son of Scott McNealy, co-founder of the computer technology company, Sun Microsystems.
While at Sun, Scott McNealy founded Curriki, a free online education service.
"Education was always very important to us and I loved it, and I loved to learn. And hopefully I can keep that going, going forward," Maverick McNealy told ABC7 News.
