Tiger Women’s Soccer Twins Read to James Brown Elementary

WALHALLA, S.C. – On Feb. 7, four members of Clemson’s women’s soccer team visited James Brown Elementary in Walhalla, SC. As part of the TIGER Read program in the Be a TIGER character education initiative, the 100 participating students at James Brown were assigned to read Game Day by Tiki and Ronde Barber.

Each book in the program is assigned based on one of the specific character traits: Teamwork, Integrity, Gratitude, Education and Respect. This month’s book correlated with Teamwork, being able to work well with others. Once the students have finished the assigned reading, Clemson student-athletes visit them at school to have a discussion about the book.

Four freshmen women’s soccer players, Tori Andreski, Jenna Weston, and twins Emily and Gabby Byorth, volunteered to talk to the students of James Brown about Game Day. Coincidentally, the book was about two twin football players who work together on the field to score touchdowns. Even more interesting was the fact that twin student-athletes from Clemson spoke about twin professional football players to a pair of participating twin students at James Brown Elementary!

Gabby Byorth shared her thoughts on the experience:

“I had a great time interacting with the kids! They thought it was impressive that we are twins that play together just like the twins in the book. The kids were excited to be able to talk to Clemson athletes in general, and I think they enjoyed it a lot. It was a great experience and I would definitely do it again!”