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Madison Stokes, age 5: Achieving by leaps and bounds
PA Cyber first-grader Madison Stokes has a passion for learning and the arts. The five year old plays the violin, dances and paints on top of her rigourous school work, and loves every second of it.
Student, artist, musician, dancer— at the young age of five, Madison Stokes is already headed for success. She has even inspired a children’s book and is a prime example of the early childhood literacy work being done by her “superhero” father.
A PA Cyber student from Harrisburg in the first grade, last year Madison completed both the age 4 and age 5 kindergarten courses— two years’ study in one. She also takes private classes for tap and ballet, gymnastics, Spanish language immersion and acting.
Her favorite type of music is classical and at the age of two she began asking her parents to play the violin. By the age of four she was taking violin lessons and has since performed in two recitals and at several community events.
In June, Madison’s self-portrait watercolor painting received the judge’s choice award in a student art exhibition. Two of her paintings are now on display in the children’s section of a Harrisburg-local library.
“She is very intelligent and has many interests and aspirations,” said her mother, LaShana Stokes. “As a PA Cyber student she is able to study at her own pace. That gives us flexibility for her to participate in other activities that are helping her to be a well-rounded student. As a result, Madison is achieving by leaps and bounds.”
Jade Kozlina, her PA Cyber instructional supervisor, said Madison is in the school’s STARR program for advanced students, which sponsors enrichment activities and field trips from the Harrisburg Support Center. “She’s an excellent student; very bright and very sociable,” said Kozlina.
Madison’s imagination provided the inspiration for a children’s book written by her father, Floyd Stokes. Written in English and Spanish, “Popcorn! Popcorn!” is a whimsical story about popcorn kernels becoming different animals as they pop out of a pan. The book was illustrated by Stephanie Lewis and includes a song about popcorn.
As an active young learner, Madison is a very personal and important example for the work done by her father as the Executive Director of the American Literacy Corporation. A non-profit organization, its mission is to design and implement supplemental literacy programs to promote learning for elementary school students in grades K-5. Floyd Stokes delivers his literacy message to youngsters as the caped and masked hero “SuperReader.” Since the inception of the SuperReader program in January 2001, Stokes has performed in character for more than 70,000 children, telling them about the limitless world which awaits them in books.
LaShana Stokes said Madison would like to be an author like her father or a violinist, composer or choreographer.
“Madison is a wonderful independent learner. Being directly involved in her education is a blessing and we look forward to her continuing to excel academically and beyond.”