Fans don’t often imagine football players and kindergarteners
working together, but that’s exactly what happened when the Monmouth
College football team began a pen pal program with a group of area
kindergarten students.
The idea was the brainchild of 6-foot-1, 270-pound offensive
lineman Seth Hill of Jacksonville, Ill., a junior elementary
education major who had finished his practicum aiding assignments
and was looking for a way to stay involved with the students at
United North Elementary School in nearby Alexis. He had assisted in
Carl Young’s kindergarten class and decided to enlist his football
buddies in an effort to inspire the young students to practice their
writing skills each week.
"I thought I’d have to twist some arms to get the guys to help,"
said Hill of his plea to write to nearly 20 five-year-olds. "I had
over 30 players sign up from offensive linemen to defensive backs
and everyone in between and from all sorts of majors. I had to make
some cuts to get it down to about 20 guys. We still had more players
on standby to help if we needed."
The Fighting Scots spent every Tuesday evening from mid-January
to May writing letters to their kindergarten pen pals. Some of the
Scots even included artwork.
"(Offensive lineman) Nick Hoffman is pretty artistic and he
included a sketch in his letters," reported Hill. "The kids at
United then started coloring pictures in the letters they sent to
the players. Nick’s pen pal said he wasn’t going to continue writing
if Nick didn’t start coloring his sketches, so I brought some
markers and we all started to include some colorings with the
letters. It was relaxing
–
a good stress reliever."
Hill hand-delivered the letters each Wednesday to the
kindergarten class who anxiously awaited the mail delivery. Like his
postal service counterparts, Hill never missed a delivery
– except for
Spring Break.
"That must have seemed like an eternity to them," said Hill. "I
walked into the classroom after break and they all wondered where
their mail was. They missed not having any letters for two weeks.
Every week was like ‘The Price is Right’ when I called their name
for a letter. They really got excited about it."
Young agrees with Hill and believes the football team inspired
his students to reach new levels of learning.
"The program was a huge success," claimed Young. "The pen pal
program actually had the students looking forward to writing in
class every day. Some students who had been struggling with their
writing skills stepped it up and did quite well. I was overwhelmed
at how well the players bonded with the class."
The kindergartners weren’t the only ones to reap the benefits of
the program.
"Just the sheer fun of seeing what the kids wrote was worth it,"
said Hill who hopes the program will continue in future years. "It’s
a good way to show the area that the football team cares about the
surrounding area. We’re not just here for four years and then we’re
gone. We want to leave a lasting impression, and not only on the
football field. Everyone should do what they can to help the
surrounding area. Even if they can only give 10-20 minutes a night
to write letters to grade-school students. If they’re positively
influencing one child, then it’s worth the effort."
Hill’s philosophy fits in perfectly with head coach Steve Bell’s
commitment to developing good citizens as well as good athletes.
"We try to teach our players to have a positive presence in the
community," said Bell. "By developing and nurturing those ideals
now, we believe the players will carry that philosophy with them
throughout their lifetime."
Bell’s influence apparently is taking hold on the Scots. As the
culminating event of the pen pal program, the players
– along with
Haase Embroidery, a local specialty shirt shop
– purchased
T-shirts for each of the team’s pen pals and delivered them
in-person to the kindergarteners.
"When we delivered the T-shirts, each player and student
immediately bonded because of the months of writing letters back and
forth," said Hill. "The class was in awe of seeing all those
football players in person. It made the kindergartners feel really
special that we would take the time to come and see them. Some of
the older students were a little envious of that extra attention. We
were able to eat lunch, take recess and just sit and talk with them
one-on-one before we had to get back to campus."
Who knows, maybe someday one of those kindergarten students will
themselves become a Fighting Scot and carry on Hill’s pen pal
program.
