Rotolo's Pizzeria teamed up with New Orleans Saints fullback Austin Johnson to surprise third- through fifth-grade students at Catherine Strehle Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson addressed the students gathered in the cafeteria to explain to them how reading impacted his life from elementary school all the way through college and even now as a professional football player.

The students then participated in a question and answer session with Johnson and asked him a wide range of questions from what college he attended to how old he was when he first started playing football.  The students then had the chance to answer trivia questions about the visit and receive autographed 2014 New Orleans Saints Yearbooks and T-shirts from Johnson.

Rotolo's Pizzeria stresses the importance of reading and education to youth throughout Southeast Louisiana with its Literacy Program.

"With Rotolo's Literacy Program, I was able to come and speak to the kids and just really emphasize the importance of reading and education, and how it relates to every aspect of life," Johnson said. "I love to give back to the community and show that we're always willing to help out. We always have a helmet on and nobody really sees our faces so whenever we can take that off and come out here and share our experiences and share our knowledge with other people, we love to always do that."