Ohio's First Lady Visits Studebaker Preschool
Fran DeWine, wife of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, read to Studebaker Preschool students Wednesday, May 13, in recognition of the Purple Star military family school district and as part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program.
Ohio's First Lady read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar to more than 100 preschoolers who gathered at the Studebaker gym. She then visited classrooms and interacted with students, teachers, and other district personnel.
Studebaker was selected as one of the sites for Fran DeWine to visit due to it being the country's first Purple Star preschool. Preschool teacher Jenn Davis is the district's liaison to military families. DeWine visited Davis' and Lori Lovelass' preschool classrooms.
DeWine is a long-time champion for early literacy. In 2019, she helped establish Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio, which mails one free, high-quality book every month to children from birth until age 5. The program has mailed out more than 26 million books in Ohio and will mail out more than 425,000 this year alone. Ohio parents can now sign up for the program as part of the birth certificate process. A study by the Dollywood Foundation indicated that children who receive these books are 15 times more likely to respond to and join in reading compared with children who are not enrolled in the program.
The DeWines have 8 children, 28 grandchildren. and one great-grandchild.
See video highlights of Fran DeWine's visit