Jairdin Engen | Assistant News Editor

Buena Vista University (BVU) is helping children at a school in Omaha, Nebraska get a head start on college. By supporting the students of Diane Walter’s first grade class at Field Club Elementary School, BVU hopes to encourage them in their own college journey.

Walter, a BVU grad from 1980, was first asked to contact her alma mater by Field Club Elementary itself. BVU accepted her request and the Dean of the School of Education Dr. Paul Theobald visited the school in order to meet the students and hand out T-shirts.

The program is intended to help the students “learn more about higher education and recognize the possibilities that come with a college education to prepare them for the future,” according to the BVU website.

Theobald was happy to participate in this program. He describes the program as using college as an incentive and having it in front of the kids at all times to keep them interested. He visited the school to talk to the kids about college. He also handed out shirts that the kids will wear on Fridays. Theobald says that the school on Fridays is something to see, with the kids wearing all colors and designs on shirts from many different colleges.

Theobald believes that the encouragement from BVU will be advantageous for the elementary students. By showing them what college can do for them they will be encouraged to work hard and eventually move on to higher education. He hopes by giving them a concrete goal to work towards they will be able to put more enthusiasm and effort into their schooling.

Although the shirts were the only things that BVU was required to give, the school has been more than willing to step up to encourage these students. The classroom has also been given triangular school pennants to hang in the room and each student has been given a yellow plush beaver. The athletic department has given out water bottles with BVU written on them and the students were also given pens and pencils.

Theobald says that there has also been consideration for an inter-school pen-pal relationship to be set up, where the students in the first-grade class and education students from BVU would write to each other. The elementary students would be able to hear about what BVU and college life was like from the education students, who would also gain experience with children from writing to them. Theobald does have concerns about such a program, however, as first graders are not always able to compose their thoughts and questions and carry out a pen-pal relationship.

In the end the effects of this program ride entirely on the students of Field Club Elementary. BVU has given them encouragement and goals through the efforts of Walter and Theobald, but the final test will be in how the students react to that encouragement.

Photo courtesy of BVU Marketing and Communications