Students in Junae Keveles’ class at New Horizons have been around the world, all without leaving the comfort of their classroom.
Keveles and her 4-year-old students recently wrapped up a Hearts Across America project where they solicited postcards from all 50 states. Keveles said she hoped to receive at least 50 postcards. Instead, she received 150 — at least one from 48 states in the union and some from Italy, Greece, Taiwan, Canada, Japan, Croatia and Puerto Rico. She is only missing a postcard from two states: Oregon and Maine.
The project, which is a postcard exchange, started after Keveles saw a Facebook posting about it shortly after New Year’s Day. She thought it sounded like a fun project and decided to try it. How it works is pretty simple, but can be time consuming. Once you decide to participate, you let it be known on Hearts Across America’s Facebook page that you are seeking postcards, usually Valentines, from all 50 states, and you agree to exchange cards. If someone from one state sends you a card, you are expected to send one to them.
“Since this was my first year, I didn’t know how to approach it,” Keveles said. Keveles kept a record of who contacted her, which geographical location sent a postcard and where she needed to send a card. Fellow teachers, former students, friends and grandparents all got involved. Keveles received multiple cards from some locations and just one from others.
Once a card was received, a heart-shaped sticker was placed on a map of the United States to indicate which state it was from. Keveles found out she needed to add a map of the world once cards from other countries started arriving.
Some sent just Valentine’s Day cards while other respondents sent stickers or personalized their cards. A couple of grandparents wrote a personal note to their grandchild. A classroom in one state sent a card for every student in Keveles’ class.
As the cards began arriving, Keveles shared them with her youngsters.
“Every day as the letters were coming in, at rest time, I would read the cards to the kids,” she said. “Everytime we got one, they were excited.”
Christian Lund, 4, said a card with puppies on it was his favorite one.
The project reached outside of Keveles’ classroom. As she found herself trekking to the post office almost every day, either to pick up mail or to mail more cards, she struck up a friendship with a post office worker who expressed an interest in the project. The music teacher at New Horizons surrendered one wall to the display, which quickly became covered in maps and cards.
One goal is to teach students about geography, but while the 4-year-olds are a little too young to learn that lesson, they are not too young to learn a bigger lesson.
“I want them to learn the world is a big place. We spread our love and we get love back. There is kindness in America, and overseas,” she said.