On September 22, the Arizona Diamondbacks visited Catalina Ventura School to surprise instructional assistant Susanne Castillo and the Catalina Ventura library with a $1,000 grant through the D-Backs’ Read Your Way to the Ballpark program!

The grant will help provide funding for new books and literacy resources, giving Catalina students even more opportunities to discover the joy of reading. According to the D-Backs, the program aims to “inspire K-5 students to develop a love of reading while supporting literacy in the classroom.”

And this isn’t Ms. Castillo’s first time hitting it out of the park—this marks her second time receiving the grant for her library and students!

The celebration brought multiple third-grade classrooms together for an afternoon of fun, featuring D-Backs mascot Baxter, community partners, games, trivia and a group reading that highlighted the importance of literacy in the classroom.

A huge thank you to the Arizona Diamondbacks for helping make reading a little more exciting for our students! And congratulations to Ms. Castillo and the Catalina Ventura Library on this well-deserved recognition!