Louisville students like buddies from Maine

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Lassiter Middle School student Lexus Davis was surprised to learn that she has a lot in common with a high school junior in Maine.

"We both like gardening and making the environment better, and we both like to ride horses," said Lexus, who is 12.

As part of a buddy program that Lassiter teacher Rachel Davis started, Lexus and other sixth-graders became pen pals last school year with high school students at Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine. Berwick Academy is a private school for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Rachel Davis attended Berwick Academy before moving to Louisville to teach sixth-grade science as part of Teach Kentucky, an organization that recruits students from all over the country to teach in Kentucky public schools.

The pen-pal program went so well that 10 of the high school students from Berwick Academy and two of their teachers decided to travel to Louisville to help the Lassiter students with school projects.

"I thought the buddy program would be great," Rachel Davis said. "But it turned into a lot more than I expected, which was really exciting for me and for my students."

The Berwick students spent a week in June working to improve the outside classroom areas at Lassiter as part of their service project.

Lassiter Middle is trying to become an environmental magnet school, Davis said. The school has a greenhouse, a compost pile and lots of garden space.

The work was paid for with a $10,000 grant from Lowe's and a $5,000 grant from Louisville Metro Councilwoman Vicki Aubrey Welch, Davis said.

The Berwick students raised money and paid their own way to Louisville, she said.

They worked side-by-side with a handful of Lassiter students. Around the school, they weeded, cleaned up an area for a compost pile, organized work sheds and tackled other "green" projects.

It wasn't all work though. The students took time out for a canoe trip on the Salt River, visits to the Louisville Slugger Museum and some other activities.

Davis said the buddy program will continue next year.

Lexus' pen pal was Sarah Foster. The pair sent each other handwritten letters about their homes, families, likes and dislikes, Lexus said. Sarah did not travel to Louisville, but Lexus said she enjoyed spending time with the other high school students.

"This was really fun," she said. "We can work and talk and learn stuff about each other."

Meg Platt, one of the Berwick students, didn't get to meet her pen pal either because her Lassiter buddy didn't participate in the week's activities.

But Meg said she got a lot out of the week and is happy that the partnership will continue next school year. "The students at Berwick come from very privileged backgrounds," Meg, 17, said. "The Lassiter students have more of a variety of backgrounds and have different experiences because they've grown up in a different part of the country. We've learned a lot from each other."

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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com