LONDONDERRY — Members of Londonderry High School's Festival of Youth Club surprised their young reading buddies at Matthew Thornton Elementary School on Tuesday.
Each of the "buddies" from Sara Blanch's first-grade class were presented with a copy of a Dr. Seuss book at the end of the reading time.
"Oh I know that one," said Nick Cote, 6, when his buddy, Khoury Dunlap, 18, handed him a copy of "The Tooth Book."
Another first-grader Michael Crowley, 6, received "Oh the Things You Can Do That Are So Good for You," from his buddy Kayla Gratton, 16.
The Festival of Youth is a spin off of a community service program that started at the high school in 2004 under a grant from the Milken Family Foundation.
During the 2004-2005 school year, the students worked on projects around the school and community. The projects included improving two garden areas at the high school, assisting the Londonderry Rotary Club in serving three dinners at the Londonderry Senior Center, raising more than $400 to help a Londonderry family for the holidays and assisting the student council in hosting a Spring Fling for senior citizens.
At the end of the year, students asked whether the group could continue to work together, and the LHS Festival for Youth was created as an extracurricular organization.
The program is overseen by high school literature teacher Kelly Giguere and special education teacher Karen McDonald.
During the school year, the high school buddies plan three activities with the first-graders. They've done a Halloween project, a reading project and in June the first-graders will visit the high school for their final project.
Last year, the students decorated bird houses for this project and Giguere said they will probably do the same this June.
The Festival of Youth students held bake sales to raise money for the Dr. Seuss books that each of the 17 children received and they also purchased some extra books for Blanch's classroom library.
The high school group does other community projects such as game and card afternoons at the Londonderry Senior Center and participating in Beautify Londonderry projects.
