For over twenty years, the Kids Connect with Kids (KCK) program has been connecting the 5th graders of SFC with the juniors and seniors of Billings Central and giving them a feeling of what high school is like. By writing and receiving letters, juniors and seniors who signed up for the program correspond with their personal 5th grade buddy, talking about their favorite things, their school life, and other fun facts about them.
During the school year, the juniors and seniors meet their 5th-grade buddies about two or three times. The first time is almost always at the first All System Mass, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving break. This school year, at that Mass, the 5th graders got to sit with their buddies all throughout Mass and then took a picture with them afterward.
“We thought it would be a great idea to have the high school kids mentor the little kids and kind of give them some insight into what it is like to be here,” explained Tonia Bjelland, who has served as the KCK coordinator on the high school side since the program started. “A lot of our kids have been at St. Francis, and so it is kind of cool to let them see what their future holds in the Catholic school.”
Not all high school KCK buddies went through St. Francis. Some high school students decided to join the KCK program to help connect with a 5th grader and see what their life is like in the Catholic school system. “It seemed like a cool opportunity,” said junior Anna Kim, “especially for me because I didn’t go to St. Francis.”
Even though the KCK program seems like it’s just high schoolers and 5th graders writing letters to each other, most students have a lot of fun doing it. Bjelland says that when kids come to Central, they look at the pictures in her room of already graduated seniors, trying to find their buddy from when they were at St. Francis.
Anna Kim says she’s excited to see where the year takes her with KCK. “I feel like pen pals is kind of like a thing of the past, but writing letters to each other, I think that’s really cool that they’re doing that in that format,” Anna Kim said about the KCK program. Overall, it’s a great way for students in the same school system, who don’t know a lot about each other’s experiences, to give some insight in a fun and exciting way.
