Erika Anderson

STAFF WRITER

ATLANTA-St. Jude the Apostle School's Buddy Program is an effort to make school a little less scary and a lot friendlier.

Students in lower grades are paired up with students in upper grades at the beginning of the year. As buddies, students in kindergarten are paired with students in sixth grade. First-grade students are paired with students in eighth grade. Second-grade students have a fifth-grade buddy, and third-graders receive a seventh-grade buddy. Fourth grade, said Principal Barbara Poole, is a transitional year for the students, who begin to look forward to the idea of being a buddy.

"It's really a way to foster constructive mentoring relationships," Poole said. "It gives the older students an opportunity to assist and serve and helps teach them to be role models."

Older students are there to help the younger ones find their way to their classes, to look out for them and to provide friendship so that every student knows someone.

Once a month, the school does some kind of buddy activity. The buddies may color together or read together. The fifth-grade/second-grade buddy relationship is perhaps the most important, as fifth-graders work with the students and give them advice about the sacraments.

Kathy Cote, a parent and president of the Parent Teacher Association, said that recounting their sacramental experiences helps the older children as well as the younger ones.

"The older children get to do all that remembering," she said. "They have the opportunity to go through that whole process again as an older child."

Poole said that the blossoming friendships between buddies are very visible throughout the school.

"You see them walking around the building holding hands," she said. "A lot of times buddies exchange Christmas presents or have a picture of their buddy in their locker. You can tell it means a lot to them."

Theresa Johnson said that the buddy to her son, Connor, helped to ease the nervousness her son felt going to school for the first time.

"It made him immediately feel comfortable in a school of 500. It makes him feel a lot more a part of the school," she said. "There is a real feeling of kinship between the older and younger ones. The older ones almost take them under their wing."

Third-grade teacher Miriam Woods is very grateful for the Buddy Program.

"I love the opportunity for the third- and seventh-graders to work together on a common project such as reading a book, making holiday crafts or just playing together," she said. "It makes my third-graders feel very special-the older students are wonderful to them."

Woods' students are also excited to have an older buddy.

Susan Davies said that her buddy helped her as a new student.

"I like the Buddy Program because when I was new last year I was scared because I did not know anyone," she said. "It really helped me."

Alexa Svensson, also a third-grader, is looking forward to being a buddy herself.

"I like the Buddy Program because it is a cool thing and it is a chance to meet new people every year," she said. "Also it is a chance for you to know what to do when it's your turn to be a buddy."

Seventh-grader Matt Gonglach remembers looking up to his buddies as an older student, so he takes the responsibility of being a role model seriously.

"I try to act nicer because I know when I was in third grade, I really looked up to my buddy," he said. "I like helping kids. If they don't know something they can ask you and it makes you feel good because you're helping them."

Poole said that the program gives older students in the K-8 school an "opportunity for responsibility, leadership and service."

"Students love being needed and they love being important, and they really rise to the occasion." she said. "I think that's missing in a typical middle school situation where there are only sixth, seventh and eighth grades."

Shaun Gerblick, a first-grade teacher, said that her students enjoy the extra attention from the eighth-graders. Her students read with their buddies, wrote letters to Santa during Christmastime and had a "Teddy Bear Picnic" with them. She has been touched by the friendship shown to her students by their older buddies, especially in one instance involving a student named Sam, whose mother is in the hospital.

"My students feel very comfortable with their buddies. They get very excited when they see their buddy in the hall," she said. "What I like best is what I saw last year. On the way back from church, an eighth-grader walked side by side with Sam. They were chatting away and several times the eighth-grader put his arm around Sam's shoulders. With Sam's mom in the hospital, this is exactly the type of warm friend he needs."

Because students receive a new buddy each year, it gives them a chance to meet many people. Cote said that this helps the school community.

"It gives them an opportunity to meet students on all different grade levels. They rarely are walking down the halls where they don't see a familiar face," she said. "It builds a lot of school unity and is just one more thing that makes St. Jude's a family."