More than 110 elementary and middle school students from Denver Public Schools (DPS) will be honored for reading one million words during the past year at the Denver premiere of Universal’s movie adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic, the Cat in the Hat. The event, made possible by a donation from Wells Fargo, is Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Continental Theater near I-25 and Hampden Ave. Remarks begin at 6:30 p.m.; the screening starts at 7 p.m.

More than 75 percent of DPS’ 70,000 students participated in this year’s Million Words Campaign. This annual campaign encourages students to read a million words a year - the equivalent of about 25 books.

One student from each DPS elementary and middle school was selected to attend the celebration. Along with members of their immediate family, they will be treated to the movie premiere, a guest appearance by the Cat in the Hat and a gift bag courtesy of Wells Fargo.

“The Million Words Campaign has been a tremendous success throughout our Denver schools,” said Superintendent Jerry Wartgow. “The competition surrounding attendance to this event was a fun way to help students improve their reading skills and reward them for doing so.”

“We have a vested interest in supporting educational programs like this that help build a skilled workforce for the future in our community,” said Matthew J. Lynett, president of Wells Fargo Bank in metro Denver. “This is an outstanding program and we’re proud do to our part to support the effort.”

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $391 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,900 stores and the Internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. was recently recognized by Moody’s Investors Service with a Aaa credit rating - the only bank in the U.S. to receive this rating. In Colorado, Wells Fargo serves more than 600,000 customers through 125 stores in 55 communities, including more than 55 stores in metro Denver.

For more information about the Nov. 20 event, please contact Chris Smith, Director of Community Partnership / Enterprise Activity, at 720-423-3580.