Bridgeport first graders get a visit from high school
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BRIDGEPORT - Bridgeport Elementary School's first graders were delighted to get a visit from their elders at the high school early October when the high schoolers shared a storybook at each first-grade class.
Bridgeport Exempted Village School District is committed to building those Bulldog family bonds across the grade levels. For one part of the outreach, every month several high school students will stop by the elementary kiddos' classes. Last month the kindergarteners hosted some high school students.
Sophomore Brett Kuprowicz and freshmen Kason Rosnick and Braylon Brothers greeted the little ones. This was their first time reading to the elementary students, so they took a book by Dr. Seuss.
Brett enjoyed returning to those elementary haunts.
"It was nice. Obviously getting to read to the younger people," he said. "It was pretty cool. Sort of like a different perspective because it's been so long since I've been back there. Seeing all the younger kids that are going to be where I am one day is pretty cool. Maybe inspire them a little bit."
The visit also put him in mind of his first-grade years and how he saw high schoolers.
"I thought they were big and scary," he recalled. He had a chance to see things from the other side.
"They were asking questions. They seemed pretty interested in the book," he said. "It was pretty fun."
Brett has some familiarity working with the elementary school, since he is also at the front office.
"I am the elementary office aid," he said. "It was nice to go back there and read."
Kason, who has ambitions to go into education, was interested in the classes.
"It was definitely a cool experience because us as ninth graders get to talk to the future. By the time whenever we're out of school some of us might become teachers. We might have them in class," he said.
"It was very nostalgic because that's where we grew up. That's where we had some of our best memories as young kids. It was definitely weird because you don't remember everything being that small."
Kason also remembered how he saw high schoolers.
"They were giants," he said.
"It was just a cool experience because you got to talk to the next generation."
He was also able to have a few words with his old teachers.
"I was just catching up to the elementary teachers mostly," he said. "About how it is teaching the first graders."
Braylon was conscious of having grown.
"It felt very nostalgic. It just felt like I was in a tiny world," he said.
"I was talking to the kids, reading to them," he said. "They had a decent amount of questions. I tried getting them involved in the story."
He also revisited some old acquaintances.
"It was nice getting to see all the old teachers, some teachers that I had, some teachers that I didn't. It was just weird seeing how different it was since I'd been there," he said. "Looking at the kids, I also saw a little bit of myself in them, looking so small and young and so full of life. It felt very weird seeing a younger version of yourself even though you know that's not yourself."
For her part, Bridgeport Elementary School Principal Kamaron Sabinski was happy to welcome the high schoolers.
"Absolutely love having the high school students read to our children. They look up to the older students. It is great role modeling for our amazing children."