The Oklahoma City Thunder is rolling out the blue carpet to bring in the new school year. The Thunder is involved in a host of community back-to-school activities through an array of support including donating backpacks, Thunder entertainer appearances, and delivering snacks for backto- school event organizers. Schools can also now register and request booking for Thunder school resources including Thunder PE Takeovers, Rumble Rallies and the Rolling Thunder Book Bus presented by American Fidelity Assurance Company.

Thunder PE Takeovers reinforce the importance of healthy play for elementary school students. Thunder Youth Basketball coaches takeover PE classes for the day and lead students in physical activity and healthy curriculum.

A student favorite, Rumble Rallies bring everyone’s beloved mascot right to the classroom. Rallies are designed for pre-k through fourth-grade students and include interactive activities that cover topics such as STEM, back to school, test prep and living a healthy and active lifestyle.

The Rolling Thunder Book Bus is a statewide outreach program that inspires children, grades kindergarten to 5th grade, to develop a love for reading. The Book Bus carries over 3,000 fiction & nonfiction books annually and the Thunder has distributed more 207,000 free books from the bus since 2009.

“The Thunder’s educational support programming is a crucial pillar within our mission to engage in meaningful community leadership,” said Christine Berney, Thunder vice president of Community Engagement. “We love helping welcome students back to school and being able to connect with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students through our educational outreach and resources all year.”

The Thunder will also open registration for other school resources in the coming weeks including the Thunder Regional Spelling Bee, the Devon Thunder Explorers STEM program, Thunder Math Hoops presented by Devon Energy, enrollment for Thunder Fellows afterschool program in Tulsa and more.

For a complete list of Thunder school resources, visit www.okcthunder. com/schoolresources.