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<p>Six Indianapolis-area public schools are opening informal reading rooms with support from the Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Ben Carson and the Indianapolis Colts.</p>

Area Schools Open Reading Rooms with IU School of Medicine, Dr. Ben Carson, Indianapolis Colts

The rooms will be dedicated at a ceremony on Monday, May 3, at 9:45 a.m. at Louis B. Russell Jr. Elementary School, 3445 Central Avenue.

The Ben Carson Reading Rooms are designed to encourage young people to discover the joy of independent reading in a warm, inviting atmosphere. Each room is filled with hundreds of books representing a variety of authors, topics and genres.

Dr. Carson is a celebrated neurosurgeon and author who gained international recognition for heading a surgical team that pioneered procedures for separating conjoined twins. He and his wife, Candy Carson, began the Ben Carson Reading Room program in 2000.

Area schools participating in these ceremonies include: Louis B. Russell Jr. School 48, F.W. Parker Montessori School 56, Wendell Phillips School 63, Christel House Academy, Pleasant Run Elementary and Southeast Neighborhood School of Excellence.

The ceremony’s program will feature remarks by Candy Carson, co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, and officials from IPS, the IU School of Medicine, the Indianapolis mayor’s office and the Indianapolis Colts. The ceremony will conclude at 10:30 a.m. with a live-feed, interactive broadcast with Dr. Ben Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md.

The event will begin with a 9 a.m. reception in the library of Louis B. Russell Jr. Elementary School. Dr. Carson will conclude his remarks by responding to questions via video conference from students at each of the new Carson Reading Rooms. A ribbon cutting will immediately follow, and guests will be given guided tours of the new facility.