By Jenna Jarrah
March is Read Across America month, and the LA Rams are getting children excited about reading. To celebrate Read Across America, the Rams will make stops at schools across the county, and visit classrooms with their mascot Rampage, Rams cheerleaders, players, and staff, who will be guest readers to elementary school students.
The sports team will read their book, “Ride with Rampage,” which is an illustrative journey that takes kids across Los Angeles. Rampage, the book’s author and protagonist, drives a double-decker bus on a tour of the city, and along the way, he picks up his cheerleader friends at different landmarks that define Los Angeles on their way to a Rams game at SoFi Stadium.
The book is the centerpiece of the Ram’s educational program, Rams Readers. The program was launched in 2022, and the sports team has since visited over 150 elementary schools across 30 school districts.
“We believe as a professional sports organization rooted in Los Angeles that we have a responsibility to invest in the next generation, and literacy is one of the most impactful ways that we can do that,” said David Weingarten, senior manager of community impact and engagement for the Rams who helped launch the Rams Readers program.
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Students at Lockhurst Elementary hold their books up as they follow along during a Rams Readers assembly. (Photo by Abigail Dean/ Los Angeles Rams)
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Citing a need in LA communities where kids were struggling with childhood literacy, Rams Readers was developed as a solution to address low reading comprehension and literacy rates in schools.
The concept of Rams Readers started during COVID, with the goal of assisting elementary school students to “reach their potential in reading comprehension and foster a love for reading,” said Alex Floch, manager of the mascot program and community engagement for the Rams. The sports team partnered with Teacher Created Materials, an organization that develops curriculum and educational books for grade school students, to produce “Ride with Rampage.”
Literacy is one of the strongest predictors of a child’s long-term success, and the idea of Rams Readers was built on bringing “the excitement of an NFL team into the classroom to spark a lifelong love of reading in young students across Los Angeles,” said Weingarten.
In schools, Rams Readers starts with an assembly to inspire students about the value of reading. Ramsey and Rams cheerleaders give each student a copy of the book, and Ramsey, players, and Rams Legends read a story out loud, while the kids silently follow along.
Roland Williams, who played tight end for the Rams from 1998 to 2000 and was a Super Bowl XXXIV champion, is a Rams Legend who often visits schools and reads to students.
Williams, who personally believes reading is valuable, said, “There are places you can go in your mind, and adventures that can be had, that reading gives you an opportunity to do. Reading and literacy being a part of your growth helps you become a more well-rounded and better person.”
The program has been very popular in elementary schools, and has about 100 schools on the program’s waiting list at any given time.
“The kids were totally into the story, and the program got them inspired to realize that reading can be fun. It has had an overall positive impact on our reading culture here at school,” said Kim Michaud, principal at Bay Laurel Elementary School in Las Virgenes Unified School District.
Floch added, “Schools are excited about the program, and want us to show kids that if their favorite football team enjoys reading, they can too.”
The literacy program has distributed over 40,000 books, activity guides, boxes of crayons, and bookmarks to students across LA.
Rams Readers is just one of many programs by the LA Rams to engage students and make topics they’re learning in school exciting.
A supplement to the Rams Readers program, the Rams Reading Challenge encourages students to read for at least 20 minutes each day over the next 45 days after the team’s visit, and aims to foster an authentic love for reading that extends beyond the classroom.
Yoni Spivak, a third grader at Bay Laurel Elementary School, enjoyed the Rams Reader Challenge. Over a seven day period, he logged 120 minutes of independent reading. “It was really fun,” he said.
Yoni’s mom Dorianne said, “He was more motivated to come home and read independently, which was great to see.”
The Rams Reading Challenge is in partnership with After-School All-Stars (ASAS), which is a free K-12 after-school program on dozens of campuses throughout LA County. Their programs focus on fitness and well-being, STEM learning, visual and performing arts, career exploration, and youth leadership, and serve over 25,000 students annually.
“It has been a phenomenal literacy program for our elementary students,” said Donny Faaliliu, senior vice president of leadership and community outreach with ASAS, Los Angeles.
The programs, which initially only focused on grades 1 to 3, have now expanded to include 4th and 5th grade classes at the request of administrators.
“We’re hearing from students, parents, and school administrators about building a stronger culture of literacy and leaving lasting confidence in every student we serve,” Faaliliu continued. “It’s been a community effort, igniting this lifelong love of reading and turning those reading minutes into countless stories across all of our schools.”
In 2025, over 4,000 elementary school students across 16 schools in the greater LA area participated in the Rams Reading Challenge. Students across schools logged 4,823,687 reading minutes, which more than doubled 2024’s total.
The Challenge, which was launched in 2023, is sponsored by Disneyland Resort, and the participating school with the highest number of reading minutes wins four tickets per student to visit Disneyland.
In November 2025, the Rams and Hollywood Park launched the STEAM Education Program, which is a free interactive program to educate Los Angeles youth on career opportunities within sports and entertainment. The program, in partnership with Cedars-Sinai and California Resources Corporation, is designed for fourth through eighth graders, with the aim of sparking students’ interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math).
While based in Los Angeles, Rams Readers is not solely a local effort. The Rams international team has taken the literacy program across the world, and the program has been adapted for international markets in China, South Korea, Mexico, and Australia. The book, “Ride with Rampage,” has been translated into Spanish, Mandarin, and Australian.
Weingarten noted, “Reading opens the door to curiosity. It helps grow students’ imagination about what else is out there in their city that they can experience and learn from. Rams Readers is about telling students that your future matters to us, that reading is your superpower, and that we as the Rams have your back while you’re going through school.”