Mount Vernon fourth-graders graduate to fifth grade as authors

MOUNT VERNON — Most elementary school students end their school year with a yearbook. But fourth-graders at Washington Elementary School ended with an extra book — one they wrote themselves.

After sorting through thousands of photos, hundreds of paragraphs of notes and dozens of interviews, the group of 108 students produced 51 short stories that show their town through a fresh perspective. It is also believed to be one of the largest grade-wide projects undertaken at their elementary school.

“It truly is through the eyes of the fourth grade and what stood out to them,” said fourth grade teacher Emily Stamp, who helped lead the project. “What kid doesn’t want to be a published author — how cool is that?”

“Read and Enjoy: The Book of Mount Vernon” offered students a chance to reflect on what they had already observed or what they wanted to explore through a project that challenged them to overcome youthful shyness with the confidence required to interview strangers.

With guidance from local artist and photographer Bob Campagna, students selected businesses and individuals of interest and learned how to ask basic questions for a story, be effective with their questions and capture a coherent story through the lens of a camera — more than pressing the shutter button.

“You’re not capturing pictures, you’re telling a story,” Campagna told them.

In the course of 40 years working as an artist-in-residence, Campagna had completed a similar project with a fourth-grade class in Colorado. The idea for the Mount Vernon project sprouted after Campagna reconnected with Stamp, a student of his when she was in fifth grade. When Stamp was a young Mount Vernon student, she learned photography skills from Campagna.

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“It was Bob’s brain child. We just happened to be the benefactor of it at the right place and right time,” Stamp said. “It was a pretty massive undertaking.”

Over the course of several weeks, students made daily excursions to destinations within walking distance, where they interviewed business owners, hair dressers, farmers, dancers, librarians, artists and more.

Through it all, they learned a few things out of the ordinary, like the legends about ghosts that haunt Cornell College’s Cole Library. Other outings exposed them to the delights of spontaneity, like a resident at the self-service car wash who fed the meter with quarters to their hearts’ delight as the class washed the car.

Students walked away with a new sense of confidence, an eye for accuracy and a sense of what it takes to write the books that surround their classrooms.

“We challenged kids to write to the standard of publishing,” said Campagna. “If you print it this way, it lasts forever. They see it takes a lot of effort and accuracy.”

“I wanted a memory. That’s what real learning is — it’s social,” said Stamp. “I wanted them to know they could do really cool things and their town is there to support them. They can … accomplish these really big, adultlike things as kids.”

But in reading the new authors’ inaugural work, adults many years their senior can learn a few things about their town, too.

With all the questions through both fumbling and successful interviews, the artist and the students’ teachers saw the generosity and patience extended to the kids.

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“Our town loves and respects education. Education is a priority for us,” Stamp learned. “That’s what so cool about Mount Vernon — when businesses heard about it, they said ‘Count us in.’ ”

Another element that became apparent is the multitude of talents that contribute to the vibrancy of Mount Vernon.

“A lot of students, while they chose businesses, they got to meet the person behind that business,” Stamp said. “We have such a vibrant community full of very talented people using their skills and talents to enrich our town.”

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