The Orlando Magic basketball season tips off Wednesday night, but Kia Center was already filled with thousands of cheering, screaming fans Monday morning as Orange County Public Schools students packed into the team’s arena for a reading event hosted by the team’s players.

“Stay in school. Continue to read so y’all can reach y’all’s dreams,” Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said to the fourth and fifth graders in attendance.

About 3,400 students from nearly 50 OCPS elementary schools serving low-income communities attended the event. The younger students watched as older ones — the most-improved readers from the previous year — participated in games such as rock paper scissors and relay races with Magic players to celebrate their achievements.

More than 150 fifth graders wearing shirts f

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