High School and Elementary Students Form Strong Bond through Reading

No good deed should go unnoticed. Throughout Tyrone High, there are many students and teachers who use their time to help others.

High school teacher Shannon Davis’s recent collaboration with elementary school teacher Kristy Brennan and her third-graders is an example of students helping other students and doing good.

Every other Friday, Davis’s high school students go to Brennan’s third-grade classroom to read to her students. Sometimes the little ones will even come up to the high school to bake with Ms. Davis and her students.

The high school students have developed a close friendship with these little third graders, much like big brothers and sisters. They’ve become role models for the younger students, which is a very heart-warming thing to watch.

“It’s nice. The little kids are fun and cool,” said sophomore Chad Steele, “We love to go visit them.”

The connection between the two classes has been going on for over a year.

“We did this a little bit last year too, so the kids are really starting to bond with each other and know each other really well,” said Davis.

On their trips to the elementary school, the high school students do whatever they can to help. They read books, play recess games, and help them with their reading.

According to Brennan, her third-grade students always look forward to spending time with the high school students.

“I like to see them, and I like cooking with them,” said third-grader Gabriel Alverson from Ms. Brennan’s class.

In a couple of years, these third graders will be moving up to middle school, so making connections with the older kids and becoming familiar with the middle and high school setting should help their transition to middle school go more easily, said Davis.

“We try to make everything purposeful,” as Davis puts it.

These interactions help the students from both schools to build important skills for life, and it’s wonderful to watch it happen.

There are many people within the school who spend their own precious time helping others. They don’t get nearly as much attention and recognition as they deserve, but they keep doing what they do because they know that it’s right.

People like Ms. Davis and her students should be looked up to as role models for everything they’ve done. We all have the ability to give to others, so use it.