By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Students at Garfield and Jackson elementary schools who sent pencils and well wishes to children in New York after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have been rewarded with letters of thanks and erasers from new friends in the Big Apple.
While the pencil was meant as a symbol of communication and caring, the erasers can’t undo the carnage in New York.
They weren’t meant to.
Wrote Ammiel, a third-grader from Public School 114, who chose a multicolor star-shaped eraser: "I gave you this eraser because the orange represents your heart, the purpul (sic) represents your kindness and the yellow … represents the sweetness of your heart."
"I am feeling much better because now I know that someone cares about me," wrote Stephanie, another third-grader.
Some students related how they watched the dark smoke from the World Trade Center towers fill the sky from their homes eight miles away. Despite the horrific toll exacted on the city, older students wrote letters filled with resilience, inviting the Everett students to visit New York, their school and landmarks, such as the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.
Students from the Big Apple also sent 500 erasers in the shape of a little apple.
Juelle Schroeder, 11, a Garfield fifth-grader, appreciated the letters.
"I thought it was a nice thing for them to actually get back to us because of everything that happened," she said.
The Everett schools chose a campus that is not on the fringe of Ground Zero, the area where the terrorist-hijacked jets crashed into the World Trace Center towers. Public School 114, which uses the same reading program as Garfield and Jackson, is in a neighborhood that runs along the Hudson River behind Yankee Stadium.
In an era of instantaneous e-mail, the traditional pencil-written letters with crayon artwork and emerging communication skills have provided a nice change of pace.
"It’s just so poignant," said Barb Dubin, a Garfield social worker. "It has been really healing for the kids and the adults. It’s a letter with a lot of purpose and meaning."
Many older Garfield students are getting other glimpses of the world through the art of letter writing. They have also exchanged letters with a school in Japan.
Students there wrote them back, spelling different Garfield students’ names in English and Japanese while sharing the Japanese alphabet.
Nick Freelove, 10, a Garfield fourth-grader, is impressed with the beauty of Japanese letters and the spirit of the students from New York.
It’s one thing to write a letter, he explained, but "it’s really cool when someone actually responds."
You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446 or send e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.
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