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Committed To Truth/
Compelled To Justice
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| The Clay Connection |
 Clay Connection Makes Big Difference in Little Lives
Dear Sister,
Thank you for the hat. You look pretty. I had a happy merry Christmas. Do you like macaroni?
~ From Asayah
Dear Sister,
I love you. Do you like my handwriting? I am going to second grade.
~ From Donta
Dear Sister,
I will miss you for ever and ever. Thank you for being my pen pal. Yes, I will read a story.
~ From Asia
Research shows that children who have an adult to encourage and support them are far more likely to succeed in life. Even a minister or doctor who sees the child only occasionally can have a strong impact. Knowing this, Racine Dominican Sister Ann Pratt initiated the "Clay Connection" between retired Sisters in her community living in Racine, Wisconsin, and first graders at Clay School in St. Louis, Missouri.
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 "Many of our Sisters dedicated their lives to education and still have so much to offer," reflected S. Ann. Having worked as a teaching assistant at Clay School while in the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis in 2002, she knew of the difficult backgrounds from which many children came. It seemed natural to bring together the wonderful skills and caring natures of the Dominican women she knew and the struggling children she wanted to help. Thus, a marvelous connection was born and has since taken on a life of its own.
"Last year we wrote to 21 first graders," noted S. Cyril Marie Van Asten, 81, a charter letter-writer who now coordinates the program from Siena Center in Racine. She assigns a specific child in teacher Angie Mokriakow's class to herself and other retirees, and the Sisters correspond with that child throughout the school year. "The children love getting the letters, and working with them helps keep us young. It's a great opportunity to reach out to the children, to be able to influence 'God's angels' and their parents."
As the program progressed, the Sisters' involvement grew beyond the bi-monthly exchange of letters with the students. The first year they made a video for the class. Ingeniously, they chose Halloween as the day to introduce themselves through video, and the children took great delight in seeing the Sisters' creative costumes. Every year the Sisters knit a hat for each first grader, which the children treasure. Financing their own way, the Sisters traveled to St. Louis to spend a day with their pen pals.
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 Ninety-one year old S. Catherine Benigni, longtime first grade teacher herself, was appalled by the childrens penmanship. When she offered to make worksheets and learning games to help the children, Ms. Mokriakow enthusiastically welcomed them. S. Catherine taught her a simple method for instructing the children in penmanship, beginning a mentoring relationship which blossomed between the young teacher and her retired role model. "Angie would write and ask advice about teaching math and I'd give her some ideas," S. Catherine said.
S. Catherine, who always kept many learning games available to students in her own classroom, made about 50 games to reinforce math, reading and phonics skills, which she sent to Angie. Appreciatively, Angie responded, "Now I can teach more effectively because the kids can work on their own while I spend time with children who need extra help."
"It's amazing what the children did" in responding to the Sisters' letters, noted S. Catherine. "It motivated them to write sentences and make their letters carefully to send to someone. It's a real joy to see the youngsters working at something profitable."
This fall, Clay School's first graders will discover a wonderful surprise when the Clay Connection begins its fourth year of relationship-building. They don't know it yet, but there's a caring Sister in Racine just waiting to meet her new pen pal, a child upon whose life she can only imagine the positive impact she will have ... and whose letters will bring her sheer delight.
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