ALTON - As a teacher, Amy Green knows the importance of being there for her students. In fact, she’s there for them even seven years after they were in her class.
Every year, Green sends a lucky penny and a note to the graduating Alton High School seniors who were in her fifth grade class. It’s a powerful reminder to the students that she is still rooting for them, and it means a lot to Green, too.
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“Sometimes I do long for the small-town feel, and I feel like this gives me that because then I get to hear back from the students,” she said. “It’s a little bit of community.”
Green collects pennies from the current year so she can send them to her students when they become seniors at Alton High School. She got the idea from her mother, a teacher in Jerseyville who used to do the same thing. Green started sending the pennies when her first fifth grade class became seniors, about three years ago.
This year, she was pleased to receive several emails from seniors who were touched by the gesture, including Reid Murray. Murray’s mother, Tawnya Hooper, noted that it meant a lot to the family.
“She went above and beyond, and clearly she did not have to do it,” Hooper said. “And Reid was obviously so honored by it.”
It’s also powerful for Green, who enjoys reconnecting with her students as adults. She said she loves hearing from kids who used to be in her class, and she looks forward to the tradition every year.
“It’s just really nice for me, because I get out my yearbook from that year and write their names on the thing. Because you forget, you know?” Green said. “I like to reminisce about that year, and I put their face to their name again. That’s fun.”
Green now teaches kindergarten, so she won’t be sending any pennies for a few years. But she looks forward to resuming the tradition when her current class becomes seniors. She hopes the experience is inspiring to the kids she teaches, and she looks forward to hearing from them again in a few years when they receive their letters from her.
“Her level of dedication as a teacher, it goes above and beyond,” Hooper added. “Those are definitely the type of folks we want in our educational system.”
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