CONWAY — St. Joseph students have a new program to support and encourage spiritual growth. Prayer Buddies, a program established by teachers Jennifer Hui and Alicia Yrle, pairs older students with younger students in second through 10th grades.
“Jennifer and I attended the NCEA (National Catholic Educational Association) conference in the spring of 2010,” Yrle, a sixth-grade teacher, said in a recent e-mail interview with Arkansas Catholic. “Claudia Munson and Ann Marie O’Brien are Catholic educators who created the program ’Prayer Buddies,’ which is designed to help students develop spiritual relationships with one another.”
Hui said her reaction and desire to implement the program was immediate.
“The presenters started talking about the whole concept of prayer buddies, and I kept turning around and whispering loudly that we needed to do this,” Hui said. “We are just so excited and feel so blessed that it’s been so well received.”
In Conway students meet together once a month to complete an activity together. Each month has a theme. At the first meeting, held in September, they created paper doll versions of their prayer buddy, Yrle said. The dolls were to remind the partners to pray for each other.
“We believe this is such an amazing way to physically, emotionally, and, most importantly, spiritually unite our students across the three campuses of St. Joseph School,” Yrle said.
Roughly half the school population, about 250 students, is participating in the program, Yrle said. Students are paired based on grade level: second and fifth grade; third and sixth grade; and fourth and eighth-10th grades.
“Most students only have one prayer buddy, but because our numbers were not always quite even, some have two,” she said. “Each is paired with a prayer buddy of the same sex.”
Students were also paired based on personality. Yrle said Hui taught nearly every child in the program so she was able to match students of like interests and personalities.
The theme during the October Prayer Buddy meeting was guard ian angels because Oct. 2 was the feast of the Guardian Angel. Students held a mini-prayer service and completed a word puzzle and colored guardian angels as keepsakes, Hui said. The program also included time for the students to visit with their buddies before returning to their classrooms.
The meetings are planned based on ideas shared by the presenters at the NCEA conference, Yrle said. Older students will be notified of the themes early so they can prepare to help the younger ones, she said.
Also introduced at the October meeting was a “prayer box” where students can “mail” their prayer buddy via their teachers with prayer requests.
“This is a great way to interact with all the grades and for someone older to mentor someone younger,” Hannah Chamoun, a 10th grade student, said. “The prayer box is great to be able to communicate when we’re not able to see each other. This is a great idea and something different.”
Chamoun’s prayer buddy is Eleanor Harrison, a fourth-grade student.
Harrison said the two did not know each other before meeting as buddies.
“It’s nice to get to know someone from a grade older than me,” Harrison said.
The teachers consider the program a success by the reaction of the students.
“Our students continuously ask us when the next Prayer Buddies meeting will be held,” Yrle said. “They are excited about getting to hang out with one of the big kids.”
She said the program allows older students a chance to become a leader and a role model.
“I like spending time with little kids and helping them out when they need it,” Craig Yrle, a 10th grade student, said. His buddies are Kyle Hartman, fourth-grade student, and Gabriel Chalk, a second grader.
As special activities the school will have one of the basketball games designated as a Prayer Buddy Game, where students will be encouraged to attend with their buddies, Yrle said.
Additionally, the last school Mass of the year the prayer buddies will sit together instead of with their regular classrooms.
“One of the greatest comments that touched my heart was when one of our fifth graders stopped me during our first meeting and told me that because of Prayer Buddies, he knew this was going to be the best year ever,” Yrle said.
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