Students in Mikal Crowder’s World Geography class are getting some firsthand knowledge of the subject, along with current events, through a pen pal program with students in Odesa, Ukraine.
Crowder has 120 students and most of them have been matched with students at several high schools in Odesa.
The program came about through the district’s social studies coordinator Becky Ramirez. She brought the idea to Crowder toward the middle of fall last year and said it is something the district wanted to do.
Crowder started getting his students signed up for it just before Christmas break.
Chris Mead, who is in Virginia, acted as a go-between on setting the program up. He started matching up the different groups of students that would sign up from here and pairing them with students in Ukraine.
Once the students got their email contacts, they started corresponding back and forth, although it has been kind of spotty at times due to the war with Russia.
“So far the kids have responded pretty well. I’ve gotten quite a few kids that hear back and forth from their pen pals. We’ve got some, who unfortunately, the contact isn’t as frequent. It was like I remind the kids, they may be without power. Those kids may be without services there. There’s a war going on and so when you tell them that kind of stuff, the kids understand,” Crowder said.
He added that it has broadened the students’ horizons.
“The ones that hear back frequently, they talk a lot about how things are very different for the kids over there. But then it’s the other comment that I’ve heard from them multiple times from my students is … they’re not all that different. They’re just like me; they’re just going through other stuff,” Crowder said.
He’s not sure the program will continue next year.
“It’ll really kind of just depend on what pairings we have and how things match up and what students are available in Ukraine and how much the district and Mr. Mead want to continue,” Crowder said.
Joaquin Carrasco, a 15-year-old ninth grader, and Cade Clay, a 14-year-old freshman, have corresponded with students in Ukraine.
“I thought it was pretty interesting to see how it was in a different place besides here in Odessa,” Carrasco said.
He said he’s been able to get in touch with his pen pal fairly frequently, but other times it takes a while. He said they talk about how school is going and not so much about the war.
Carrasco said his pen pal has been able to attend school and last time he corresponded with him he was studying for a test.
What surprised him was how similar things are.
“I thought it was going to be different, but I guess there are a lot of similarities,” Carrasco said.
Cade said it was cool being able to talk to someone you normally wouldn’t be able to. He asks his pen pal about what’s happening, but he hasn’t said much.
He added that it has widened his horizons to think about what’s going on in other places, but getting insight from someone like himself has opened his eyes.
Principal James Ramage said the pen pal program is really unique.
“It’s with our freshmen, so it’s our youngest kids here. A lot of times freshmen don’t think outside their world really. They’re 14-, 15-year-old kids, and now they’re hearing from students across the world in Ukraine who face a completely different dynamic of sometimes they don’t have power. Sometimes they don’t have internet. Sometimes they don’t go to school because they can’t. That’s something that our kids have never considered ever before, because those things aren’t happening here in the U.S. It’s really interesting to hear their perspective of wow, this person I’m talking to in Ukraine is going through a whole different ordeal than I can ever imagine,” Ramage said.
“I think there’s a lot of empathy of what’s happening outside our world here in Odessa, Texas,” he added.
