Ryan Howard donates new room to Phila. school

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Phillies slugger Ryan Howard helped dedicate a brand new space at a South Philadelphia elementary school.

Howard, a big hitter, was a big hit with students at Vare-Washington Elementary School on Friday.

It's called 'Howard's Homeroom' and it's a gift, from the first baseman and his wife Krystle, to the children for all of their hard work in reading.

"We challenged them to read 20 minutes a day, seven days a week," said Krystle Howard.

The kindergarten through third graders logged more than 1 million minutes of reading time through Howard's reading challenge.

So how did the kids pull it off?

"I read at the library, at the park," said one student.

"I took time away from TV and started reading," said another student.

"This is all of their hard work paying off right there, we presented the challenge, they rose to the occasion and this is their reward. We're very proud of them," said Howard.

What's his favorite spot? Of course it's the big baseball glove chair.

"It's going to be a hot commodity that chair, when we are done I am going to take a seat in it so I can tell everyone I sat in it first," he said.

Howard and his wife sat and read some of the many books they donated to the students.

The room is complete with computers, Phillies memorabilia and plenty of books.

"It's also really exciting that the kids worked for this. It's not a grant that we just came in and gave and then left," said Krystal.

The students officially logged 1,535,960 minutes since the challenge was launched in October.