Student hits postcard feat
ZELIENOPLE — Yorick Williams accomplished a feat only one other Connoquenessing Valley Elementary student has done.
The first grader collected one postcard from all 50 states during his class' Great Postcard Race assignment.
Yorick and his mother Amanda, who served in the Army for eight years, wrote letters to the state representatives from the states he needed. Williams said her military connections “absolutely” helped with the assignment.
“They were the first people I contacted,” she said.
Amanda Williams also contacted her friends and family on Facebook. Of the 13 state representatives they wrote letters to, five responded. The project started in January and finished last week for Yorick.
“It was fun,” Williams said. “I hope that his class enjoyed it.”
In addition to the 50 states, Yorick received two postcards from South Africa, one from London, two from Japan, one from South Korea, three from Australia, one from Mexico, one from Thailand and one from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from a friend working there as an air traffic controller.
This is an annual project that first grade teacher Stacey Richard and a colleague started about 10 years ago to go along with the story, “Me on the Map.”
Richard said more postcards have been coming in over the past few years.
“It used to be harder, but now that everyone has social media it's become a bit easier for them (students),” she said about the assignment. The last time a student received postcards from all 50 states was about eight years ago.
“We thought it would be a fun project for to expand upon,” Richard said.
She said getting postcards from Pennsylvania and Florida are the easiest, while North and South Dakota and Washington are the most difficult.
“This year, we had no problem with those states,” she said.
Richard said the assignment has proven to be an effective geography lesson. “It's a great learning experience, especially for social studies and geography,” she said. “The goal is to learn the 50 states.”
