MCALESTER, Okla. – Puterbaugh Upper Elementary students greeted visitors from Ireland Friday and offically kicked off a pen-pal program that will teach not only McAlester students, but also those they’re writing to overseas.
Students at Puterbaugh Upper Elementary received the opportunity to write to students in Midleton, Ireland, because of McAlester Association for Global Interconnections’ Sister Cities program.
Puterbaugh Upper Elementary Principal Kathy Hunt said the school sent 18 class letters to begin the relationship between McAlester Public Schools and Midleton, Ireland.
“Every class is writing a letter to share with the people in Midleton,” Hunt said.
The letters cover a list of things to have students thinking about themselves and the community they have grown up.
They will describe themselves, what is special about McAlester and ask questions they have for those in Midleton. Each class is assigned a different aspect of what makes McAlester and Oklahoma special.
“The kids have researched different things about our town. One is telling them about how it was founded. Another one is telling us how we’re the Buffaloes. In other ones, explaining our state flag,” Hunt said. “Everyone is doing something different, just describing either our town or our state.”
Hunt thinks it is important for students to learn about their town and state and understand what makes it special.
“I hope that we’ll find these children writing about and telling about their town and it instills a sense of pride, when you stop and take time to think about what you do have in your town,” she said. “A lot of kids, they don’t know that the Masonic Temple is one of a kind, or they don’t know what’s special about the fact that the oil and gas industry are our beginnings. I hope a sense of pride in community and self evolves.”
She wants students to see the impact the Choctaw Nation has all over the world and what they experienced while on the Trail of Tears. She said Native Americans lost their homes, went hungry and lost what was familiar to them on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.
She said the Irish went through something similar as they went hungry and were poor, having to immigrate to America to have the chance to survive.
“The Choctaws were so kind that they gathered up money they didn’t have and sent it to help them in their time of need,” Hunt said.
Another thing she wants to accomplish with the program is for the students to learn the art of letter writing.
“It’s an art that we don’t often think of since we send texts and emails, but letter writing is a wonderful way for kids to communicate,” Hunt said.
With letter writing comes the excitement of getting a response after waiting for so long. However, Hunt said they do not plan to only communicate through letters, but would love to expand to Google Meets and FaceTime to meet with their pen-pals and also send videos and pictures.
When she taught fourth grade, her class had a pen-pal from Grand Island, New York, for 20 years. She wants to do some things she did with that pen-pal in this program.
“We used to, my fourth graders, would take videos and send VCR tapes back and forth,” Hunt said.
She said people want to know what their pen-pal looks like, and that was a way they did it back then.
Although right now it is currently a class effort, she said if students are interested in receiving their own personal pen-pal, then the program is open to the idea of doing it. They just want to establish it as a program first and see where it goes.
Hunt said they plan on continuing the program for as long as Midleton wants to write back.
The visiting Irish delegation picked up the letters from Puterbaugh Upper Elementary when they visited McAlester Friday. Hunt said the students and faculty had surprises for the delegation’s visit.
An art teacher created a replica of the statue that honors the Choctaw Nation for helping Midleton during the potato famine.
A student greeted the Irish delegation in Choctaw and made a Choctaw vest to wear when meeting them.
The McAlester Public Schools Native American Club presented Choctaw regalia to the Irish delegation.
Cllr. Rory Cocking, Cork County Councillor for the Midleton Electoral Area, which is part of the East Cork Municipal District, presented local jerseys from Midleton. He asked for it to be displayed with the replica for the Choctaw statue.
Hunt said they are excited about this opportunity to be part of the pen-pal program and thinks it brings excitement to school.
“This, to me, is what education and school is all about,” Hunt said. “Fun learning experiences that connect the kids to each other and to the world.”