The Central Texas Teen & Kids Comic Con will return to Round Rock High School on Feb. 22 for its ninth consecutive year. This annual event, hosted by Round Rock ISD Library Services, promises a day filled with superheroes, creators, and more.
Sara Pavone, a librarian at Round Rock High School and the event’s founder, said her goal in creating the Central Texas Teen & Kids Comic Con was to support struggling readers.
“I was trying to think of a way to help support our struggling readers, our Emergent Bilingual readers, and our Special Education readers,” Pavone said. “I had done some research about how graphic novels and comics can support those students and help them to increase their reading levels because it gives them small chunks of text with a picture to go with it.”
The event has grown from about 2,000 in 2016 to close to 5,000 over the years. Pavone said that attendees can expect an exciting lineup of events and experiences this year.
“We’ll have local creators, animators, authors… different vendors, and crafts,” Pavone said. “We also will have the Longhorn Quidditch team come and teach kids how to play Quidditch this year! We honestly have so many cool things, and it’s all supporting literacy and encouraging kids to read.”
Another highlight will be the Jedi experience.
“They come and teach the kids how to do fake sword fighting scenes and how to create a story around what they’re doing and their actions,” Pavone said. “It’s really cool because the Jedis are sanctioned Star Wars people in full costume.”
Pavone said it’s been satisfying to see her vision come to life.
“I did not expect it to turn out to be as big of a thing as it turned into,” she said. “My hope is that it will go on forever.”
The event is free and open to the public. Students from surrounding districts are welcome to attend. Visit the Central Texas Teen & Kids Comic Con website for more information and to reserve free tickets.
