Jameis Winston surprises Mort Elementary students

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Students at Mort Elementary School got a special surprise from Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for improving reading across the school. 

More than 800 students were greeted by Quarterback Jameis Winston, Glazer Family Foundation Co-President Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and members of the Bucs cheerleading team at school Tuesday. 

The surprise was a reward to the school for improving its reading performance in the 2016 Buccaneers Academy Reading Challenge, a two-month program carried out at 24 Buccaneers Academies throughout Hillsborough County.

Winston, who is also the Quarterback for the Buccaneers Academy program and spent extra time with fifth-grade students for PLAY 60 drills, after he addressed the whole student body.

Winston also presented second grade student Victoria with a trophy for being the top reader in the school - with nearly 1,500 minutes of reading from September 1 - October 31.

Students at Mort Elementary combined to read more than 5,000 books for nearly 103,000 minutes over the two-month period this year, up from 20,000 minutes read in 2015. That marked the largest increase in reading minutes from 2015-16 out of all 24 Buccaneers Academies.