Positive Feedback from Letter Exchange Program
The letter exchange program initiated by RESPECT International continues to receive positive feedback from participating schools. An interview with Ms. Nyla Fritz, a high school teacher from Highland Middle School in Seattle, serves to reinforce the success of the letter exchange program.
Ms. Fritz teaches the 7th grade at the school. One of the goals of the Social Studies class she teaches is to help students develop skills to "compare and contrast the cultures of the Middle East, South and East Asia, the Pacific Northwest, and Africa." She felt a letter exchange program with refugee students was an excellent way for her to integrate a service learning project into her curriculum.
After learning about RESPECT through some graduate students, Ms. Fritz decided to embark on this letter exchange project and she successfully implemented the program last year, with the full participation of all 160 7th graders. This year's entire 7th grade class plans to participate.
Last year, Ms. Fritz’s students corresponded with refugees from countries in Africa: Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. The content of the letters focused on everyday activities offering an unique opportunity for students from different parts of the world to learn more about their pen-pal's lifestyles.
While the benefits of the exchange were not explicitly manifested in their schoolwork, Ms. Fritz observed a heightened level of interest and participation among her students after being introduced to the realities of the refugee crisis.
Furthermore, students frequently displayed desires to improve the lives of their pen-pals. It is encouraging to note that this has consequently sparked fundraisers, termed ‘loose change drives’, meant to raise funds to send the letters along with return coupons to the refugee students to ensure the continuation of these exchanges.
This year, the middle school students will also work with a local agency to do a basic needs drive to help refugee families in the area.
Ms. Fritz's goal is to further expand the program and allow her students to "develop a sense of being global citizens." Given the students' enthusiasm and receptiveness to the program, Ms. Fritz's goal is likely to met.