S
Top, Barbara Menchaca and Jorge Escobar-Cisneros; Middle, Mary Jebaraj and Ethan Nguyen;
Bottom, Ricky Joshva and Armin Rejeaie.
tudents from around the world who
attend South Central Elementary
School’s English as a Second Language
(ESL) class showed their concern for
others with a special project helping
children in a Mexican orphanage.
Mrs. Kimberly Chuey’s eight ESL
students are in grades kindergarten
through fourth grade and come from
India, Iran, Mexico and Vietnam.
They used fleece to make blankets
for the Bethel Orphanage in San Luis,
Mexico. Also making blankets for the
project were Mrs. Chuey’s students’ pen
pals – the fourth-grade students of Mrs.
Jennifer Ealy at Claysville Elementary
School in the McGuffey School District.
Mrs. Ealy is the teacher of Mrs.
Chuey’s 9-year-old daughter, Jenna. In
September, Jenna asked her mother to
speak to her class at Claysville when
they were studying immigration. The
fourth-graders were so interested in
the ESL program that Mrs. Chuey
approached Mrs. Ealy with the idea
of the two classes becoming pen pals.
Since then, the students have exchanged
several letters, cards and drawings. The
program has allowed the South Central
students to practice their English and
the Claysville students to learn about
children from other countries.
The two classes were able to watch
each other’s progress in blanket making
when they Skyped between the two
schools, and by dismissal time, the
students had completed a total of nine
blankets.
Mrs. Chuey’s daughter, Katie, a
2013 graduate of Canon-McMillan High
School and freshman at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, hand-delivered
the blankets to the orphanage during a
mission trip to Mexico in January.
The pen pals will continue to write
to each other throughout the school year,
and the South Central ESL students will
travel to Claysville in the spring to meet
their pen pals.
Parents have told both Mrs. Chuey
and Mrs. Ealy how pleased they were
with the children working on this
project, and the teachers are considering more joint projects due to the great
success this year.
Canon-Mac | Spring 2014 | icmags.com 35
ews
Blankets for a Mexican Orphanage
C AN ON - MAC SC HOOL DI STRI C T N
Photo by Primetime Shots
Previous page: Left to right, front - Jonathan
Gough, Alayna Healy, Riley Joseph, Itzel Diaz,
Gilliana Romeo, Delaney Gallagher, Lindy Spear,
Avery Amorose, Marissa Lauze, Grace Gaal;
back - Erin Stankus (1st-grade teacher), Allison
Cummings (1st-grade teacher), Kriste Sisul (2ndgrade teacher), Stacy Duvall (3rd-grade teacher),
Joanna McCullough (guidance counselor), Ashley
Thompson (owner, Elliven Spa), Valeria Martinez;
Top Left: Delaney Gallagher, Stacy Duvall (3rdgrade teacher);
Top right: Music teacher Deanna Alchier with
Jonathan Gough, who cut her hair.
Donating at least 10 inches of
hair each were:
Fourth-graders - Itzel Diaz, Delaney Gallagher, Riley Joseph, and
Lindy Spear; third-graders - Grace
Gaal and Marissa Lauze;
second-graders - Avery Amorose
and Gilliana Romeo;
first-grader Alayna Healy;
mothers Bethany Romeo (Gilliana’s
mom) and Melanie Trainum (mother
of two South Central boys – Jake,
fourth-grader, and Caleb, thirdgrader); and Wylandville Elementary School Principal Nina Unitas.
Music teacher Deanna Alchier, who
organized the event, donated 14
inches of her hair, bringing her total
donations since 1999 to almost 60
inches. Since the event, two additional first-graders at South Central,
inspired by what they saw, decided
to donate their hair to Locks of
Love.
Canon-Mac
CMSD PAYING IT FORWARD