St. Vincents School ‘buddies’ work together

Having a buddy at your side makes everything easier, and facing school is no exception.

For the past eight years, St. Vincent de Paul School students have enjoyed a unique program that pairs older and younger children together for an entire year. Eighth graders spend a lot of time with their assigned first graders, mentoring them and showing them around the school, and doing all kinds of activities together from academics to craft projects. Both grades met together in the school's multipurpose room on Nov. 21 to make gingerbread houses that were later displayed in the halls as a Christmas gift to the rest of the school.

The buddy program makes the school a friendlier place for the first graders, and gives the eighth graders something constructive to do.

"They want to be helpful, and this is a guided way for them to help someone else," Principal Mark Longe said.

Having a big eighth grader around is a huge confidence booster for the first graders, said Amy Norseth, mother of one of Pence's students. First grade is not an easy year for children, as it is such a huge change from Kindergarten in terms of responsibility and independence.

The confidence boost is so big in fact, that the first graders become noticeably more comfortable in front of crowds, Pence said. The first graders can get up on stage without tears for school productions if they know their buddies are nearby.

The first graders' academic skills benefit from the one-on-one attention they get from their buddies, more than their teachers would be able to provide for each student, eighth-grade teacher Deborah McFarlane said.

As for the eighth graders, the buddy program helps improve their general behavior in school, McFarlane said.

"It gives them a chance to step outside their ego-centric worlds, be charitable and get to know the little ones," she said.

Eighth grader Rebecca Hankels has learned responsibility through the buddy program, and also how to be a good example to her first grader Olivia Backus, Rebecca said.

"She's funny," Olivia said of Rebecca. "She's sweet. She helps me get my coat on."

The bonds between the buddies are strong, and last well beyond the one year the students are actually together in the program, Longe said. His son, now in college, went through the program in its early stages and still fondly remembers his buddy.

St. Vincents also has a similar program for Kindergarten and fifth-grade students.