October 22, 2003
Lines of communication
Soldier forges pen pal program with Iraqi and Traverse City students
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Slicing through confusion, conflict and cultural differences, area third-graders are reaching out to students in Iraq.
Monday afternoon, members of Ann Moore's third-grade class at Willow Hill Elementary School began corresponding with pen pals in Iraq. These 21 students have each received one name - a fourth-grade student in a school situated in a small village ten miles from Al Qayyarah - with whom they will correspond throughout the year.
As they drew self-portraits and wrote their names and ages, the students were eager to get acquainted with what they hope will be new friends.
"I'm hoping to hear from them and that they'll send exciting letters about how their land is and pictures of themselves and their classroom and how they live," said Calli Hall Parrot.
Students are also learning about the geography, weather, economy and lifestyle of Iraq as part of the pen pal project. The reading corner in Moore's classroom sports a map of Iraq with the northern town of Al Qayyarah prominently circled.
"It's been awesome learning about a different country and what it is all about and it looks very different," Liam Thomas noted.
The pen pal idea is the brainchild of Ben Boekestein, a former Willow Hill student, a 1998 graduate of West High School and a 2002 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Now a second lieutenant stationed in Iraq since May, Boekestein thought of this project as a small way to transcend the myriad differences between the two cultures.
"It was Ben's idea, totally his idea," said Ben's mother Lois Boekestein, who helped set up the project locally. "This is so characteristic of him, he really loves to put things together like this and he really enjoys working with kids."
"Soldiering is his job and he loves being a leader, he loves his guys - he just does these little things on the side," she added. "He's a real people person, he is a peacekeeper, in his heart he is more of a peacekeeper."
Boekestein said that her son's Army duties allow him to work with a local interpreter, a Mr. Abdullah. Abdullah has some sisters who work in the school system and they helped establish the pen pal project at the school in Iraq.
As Moore's students prepared to mail their first letters, anticipation ran high on both ends.
"Mr. Abdullah also said the kids there are very excited, too," Lois Boekestein noted.
Boekestein approached Willow Hill earlier this school year about her son's idea and Ann Moore volunteered her classroom for the project. Ben's fourth-grade teacher was eager to shoehorn the opportunity into her lesson plans.
"This doesn't really tie in with our curriculum but we're thinking this is a global kind of curriculum," Moore said. "They're very excited about it. We want our pen pals to learn some English."
She obtained permission from each student's parents and on Monday assigned each of her students a name from the list Ben Boekestein sent. As students puzzled and giggled over the long names, each consisting of three names, Moore told them to include all three in their salutation.
"They are going to think your name is different because you have only one," she told them, noting that later they may learn one is a first name or nickname.
Moore is thinking of different projects that her students can use to share about themselves and their lives with their pen pals. A possible scrapbook of their school and lives is one idea and a holiday sharing is another. She also hopes to find a local interpreter who can help translate the Iraqi students' replies for her class.