FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Set to enter his sixth season with the New England Patriots, safety Duron Harmon is also the proud father of a 6-year-old son. That mix of football and fatherhood made him a perfect surprise visitor Friday morning at Charles Taylor Elementary School as a guest reader to celebrate Read Across America Day.
"Just to come here, on Dr. Seuss's birthday, and to push the importance of reading. As a kid, you think reading -- you're just doing it for schoolwork. You don't really understand the importance of it," he said. "But I feel like if you have an athlete come in, it can let you know how reading is still important to him, even in my profession, even in the world, [and] I think it helps drive the message in addition to hearing it from a teacher or a parent over and over again. That's the message -- so the kids can understand the importance of reading so they can go further and further in life."
The 27-year-old Harmon read to 250 students. Among the books featured was "The Magician's Hat," by Patriots receiver Malcolm Mitchell.
Harmon explained how reading is a big part of his job description, and how that also hits home.
"Especially during the season, scouting reports, it's reading all the time. Writing notes. Going over the plays. The grind of the mental aspect of the game, what a lot of people don't really understand what we do," he said.
"Then, my son, he's in first grade. The same thing I'm telling the students here, I'm telling him. We're reading every night before he goes to sleep. So it's both ends of the spectrum -- pushing that to my first-grade son, showing him how reading and writing is still something I do to this day, and always will."
Harmon's mother was a longtime teacher who was recently promoted to dean, and Harmon said, "She's always pushed the idea of education first in my household. I couldn't touch a football or a sport if I had anything lower than a B. She knew for me to get where I wanted to go and reach my full potential, as an athlete and a student, I needed to take my school and studies seriously -- and reading was part of that, to get good grades."
Harmon was asked why he regularly makes time for community appearances.
"Just being a light in the community. These kids, they look up to us," he said. "I really believe in being a good role model, because if these kids don't have a good role model to look up to, it's bad. Some kids don't have fathers. Some kids don't have both parents. So I try to be as good of a role model as I can to show them whatever you want to do, you can.
"While I'm here, I try to share my story of why I'm here, how I got here, to let them know that all it starts with is a dream that you have to believe first. You have to be willing to sacrifice and do things that other people might not want to do to get where you want to be. At the end of the day, sacrifice is why I'm here today and definitely good role models. My mother made sure I was around good people. My father, too, so that I could grow and reach my full potential."
