“It’s fun to have buddies,” Keira Huerta said, “because you don’t have to be alone.”
Keira, a first grader at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, summed it up perfectly as one of about a dozen students who told the East Hampton School Board last week that they really like their buddy program, which pairs fourth graders with first graders for educational activities and playtime.
The program mirrors similar ones initiated over the years at the school, though during the worst of Covid-19, all such initiatives were put on hold. Now that the school has more leeway to safely revive them, the buddy program is having an impact.
“It’s building confidence and socialization skills that we have not had the opportunity to practice a lot,” Erin Abran, a fourth-grade teacher, said during the Dec. 7 board meeting. “They are finding their voice and finding confidence with their buddies. We’ve noticed friendships are being built.”
“The most important thing is the role models that our fourth graders have become.”
There have only been a handful of meetings so far, but the kids are enjoying them. “Having the buddy system is great,” Macsen Alvarado, a fourth grader, told the school board. “We can teach them stuff that they don’t know about. It’s fun to hang around them because they’re like little bouncy jellybeans — energetic.”
One of his classmates, Cam Minardi, agreed. “Everyone in my class likes their buddies and looks forward to our time with them,” he said. “We can let them know what fourth grade is all about. When I was in first grade, I did not have a buddy to let me know.”
Other older students said they were looking forward to reading to their buddies and watching movies and doing crafts together.
“They’re building themselves up without teacher support, without us needing to help them through that,” Ms. Abran said. “When it comes to academics, we feel this is going to be really helpful with reading, expression, [and] critical thinking. They’re ready to take on the challenge. Most of all, they’re having fun.”