Students from Eleuthera's P.A. Gibson Primary School recently received a treat as they were read to by Bahamian media personality and publicist Arthia Nixon from her children's book "The Magic Grouper and Other Tales."
Although under a winter storm watch in Atlanta, Georgia, thanks to technology, the first through sixth grade students were able to view Nixon, an Eleuthera native on a large screen television. They were able to chat and live video stream before Nixon screen-shared her book so they could all read together.
The live read took place during the school's literacy month which was held under the theme "Reading Accelerates Success" which was actually historic for the school. The live read was the school's first live online session.
"My daughter had a snow day so she was able to join in and witness the way Bahamian students say things in unison, observe their manners and it made quite an impression," said Nixon. "I am incredibly humbled and shed a few tears when the school bell rang for lunch and the children didn't want to move."
Nixon said the experience has inspired her to get back into writing for the children of The Bahamas and that she would be dedicating her next children's book to them as well as sending them copies for the school's library.
"I wanted the students to see a Bahamian writer and as luck would have it, Arthia is a Bahamian writer from Eleuthera who meets many demographics," said the school's literacy coordinator and teacher, Gabrielle Goodman. "Arthia's father was at the school the morning of the reading, her little sister is a student here, plus some of the children have parents who attended school with her and because of that, this is someone we can proudly say is one of our own. It was a great reunion for all of us and at the same time, they were inspired to see someone who started off just like them from such a small place end up overcoming obstacles to be successful. She showed them photos from her magazine with people like Kenedi Treasure, Jacob Latimore, Mindless Behavior, Rupee and other celebrities and diplomats to show them how far her writing has taken her."
The school's principal, Levada Ingraham told Nixon that she had given the students a wonderful example of how far reading can take them.
"We at P.A. Gibson pride ourselves as a school of excellence and by using technology to take this tremendous step, we are showing that we are first class in connecting our students to new and exciting opportunities," said Ingraham.
Nixon resides in Atlanta where she is a consultant, publicist, Caribbean media correspondent, publisher of Rise magazine and the youngest editorial member of The Florida Star and Georgia Star African-American newspapers. Her mentor, the owner of the newspapers, Clara McLaughlin, was the first Black woman to own a television station, at a time when Oprah Winfrey was being nationally syndicated.

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