Yuma, Arizona - Students at Arizona Western College have become Pen Pals with a class of 3rd graders in Mesa, AZ. Former AWC graduate, Kim Donahue, is the teacher of the 3rd grade class that came up with this writing project idea. The 3rd graders recently sent their first letters to AWC students that were specifically addressed to “Dear Future Teacher”. In the letters, the 3rd graders shared what they hoped to become in the future.
Patricia Powers and Ben Behunin, AWC Professors of Education, both had their classes write letters back to the 3rd graders. Seventy-eight AWC students participated in writing letters back to the 3rd graders. The AWC students are from Intro to Special Education, Cultural Diversity, and Intro to Psychology classes.
AWC Introduction to Special Education students explained how they felt being involved in this project:
“Just the feeling that students at such a young age are already being exposed and introduced to college and get to interact with us is such an exciting moment.”
“As future educators, we were very excited to connect with future generations of college students. It will be our upcoming goal to help all of our students prepare for their dream of going to college and building their education.”
“I thought it was a really exciting and fun activity because we are exposing children to someone in college and allowing them to connect with them by asking about things they are interested in. Also, letting the student communicate in a way that is not with technology and create a friend somewhere far from them.”
Ms. Donahue also has an AWC bulletin board in her classroom, so the 3rd graders can learn more about the College. The 3rd graders have also had the opportunity to say the AWC chant, while one student acted out being the bull and the other a matador for a school wide assembly.