Principal to jump out of plane after Fort Bragg elementary school students 'Read Across America'

Principal Latonya Leeks was looking for a way to get students at Bowley Elementary School excited about reading, even at the expense of her own comfort.

So she's taking her thrill-seeking sensibilities to new heights.

Bowley students in each grade read 4,887 minutes this semester for Read Across America and on Friday, Leeks will celebrate by jumping out of an airplane. The 4,887 minutes is a nod to the 4,887 miles from Hawaii to the Outer Banks, thus the kids read across the country in a sense. The students, ranging in age from 4 to 11, had from March 6 until April 10 to complete the challenge.

Leeks and the staff at Bowley conjured up the proposal as an incentive to get the kids to read more.

"If each grade level could read 4,887 minutes, let's just say we set up this tandem jump and do it for the kids" Leeks said. "I got a committee together, they looked at the logistics of it. We announced it to the kids and it took off like wildfire."

Last month, the staff announced to students they had met their goal. Leeks was was glad to see the children gravitate toward books and spend less time watching television or playing video games.

So on Friday, the entire student body, parents, principals from surrounding schools, Leeks' family and her church family will be there at Polo Field at Fort Bragg as she'll have a tandem parachute jump out of a plane with Master Sgt. Sunnydale Hyde around 12:30 p.m. The jump is being assisted through a partnership with The All Veteran Group.

Leeks, who recently turned 50, wanted to something fun for each month of the school year. She was born at Fort Bragg and grew up in Fayetteville. Leeks said she's tried to be a risk-taker in life and this speaks to that in doing something that she's never done.

"I'm a risk-taker by nature and it's part of my leadership style," Leeks said. "I would say thrills thrill me. The bigger, the better"

She's also jumping in recognition of her father, James Leeks, who was in the Army and routinely jumped from planes. James died unexpectedly in 2004, but Latonya still clings to his memory.

"He always told me there was absolutely no feeling like that feeling when you're free-falling from the plane," Leeks said.

The jump was originally scheduled for April 28, but bad weather pushed it back to Friday, when conditions should stay dry. The only thing falling from the sky will be Leeks.

"We'll just see what happens when I'm in the air," Leeks said when asked about a possible fear of heights. "Jumping out of a plane is going to be thrilling but I have a feeling that my tandem partner is going to have to have a nice little talk with me once I'm on the plane."