You can do rainbows where you hit the ball (against the wall) and go under it. You can’t do bullets or treetops, though.

“Treetops are where the ball hits the top of the wall, and bullets are when you hit the ball really fast.”

That’s how fourth grader Ezra Barr-Charles of the Dyer-Kelly School explained the rules of “wall ball” to senior Parker Murray.

The lunch buddy program, which began on Feb. 8, with Dyer-Kelly was inspired by the canned-food drive the high school held for the elementary school before Winter Break.

“I asked Paco (Martinez), the contact person, to let me know if there was something else we could do to help the kids. He suggested a lunch buddy program,” said teacher Patricia Jacobsen, who coordinated the drive and dropped off the cans.

Since then five small groups of high-school students have visited the school to eat lunch and play games with Dyer-Kelly fourth graders. High-school students get community service for their time.

Sue Nellis, head of high school, was the first teacher to transport students to the school.
“It’s a nice connection for the Dyer-Kelly students to interact with older students who are serious about school, but also have other interests and are fun-loving too,” Nellis said.

“But it is also important for our students to interact with kids who have a different type of life.”

Dyer-Kelly has just under 400 students in grades kindergarten through fifth. Many students come from low-income families.

“When we got there, the little kids were getting picked up from half-day and (Martinez) said, ‘Sorry there is so much traffic. I didn’t think so many parents had cars,’” sophomore Lyria Beck, who visited on Feb. 8, said.

Another group, led by teacher Jane Bauman, visited on Feb. 10.

“(The Dyer-Kelly students) said, ‘Oh, my god! The high-school kids are back!’ when we got there,” junior Jackie Fischer said.

Teacher Brooke Wells, who visited with students Feb. 11, was greeted with the same warm welcome.

“It was two days after (my newborn daughter) Sophia came home (from the hospital) so I had slept for about an hour. I thought there was no way I wanted to drive to Dyer-Kelly,” Wells said.

“But as soon as we got there, kids ran out to greet us. Everyone was laughing and playing. It was rejuvenating.”

Because Dyer-Kelly had the week of Feb. 15 off, students didn’t return to the school until Feb. 22, this time with teacher Robin Altman.

“I thought it was cool that we got to really influence the kids. We were telling them to stay in school, and it was cool that they were actually interested,” sophomore Zach Lemos said.

Dyer-Kelly enforces the three “B’s”—be respectful, be responsible and be safe.

This motto is the first clue that the school isn’t as different from Country Day as one may think.
Although Dyer-Kelly is nestled between houses with chipped paint, barred windows and chain fences, the school has well-kept buildings that look similar to those in the high school.

Outside is a play structure along with a soccer field, basketball court, four-square area and wood wall for wall ball.

The gym doubles as the cafeteria, where kids receive a pre-prepared meal each day.

This is where Dyer-Kelly students first get to know the high-school students, before they go outside to play games.

“I let the fourth-grade teachers know in advance how many SCDS kids are coming, and they select kids based on behavior, homework completion, etc.,” Martinez said.

“The teachers are giving everyone an opportunity—they’re just making them work for it.”

The students all seem to want to spend time with the high-school students, however.

“It wasn’t what I expected at all. I didn’t expect the kids to be really appreciative that we were there,” junior Sarah Smerling said.

“But they were really good kids. One of the kids even made me a Valentine’s Day card.”

After senior Lily Kramlich-Taylor spilled sauce on her sweatshirt when she visited, Barr-Charles and classmate Angela Blackman immediately offered her their only napkins.

“I think the kids were extremely excited we were there. They didn’t want us to leave,” junior Madison Galati, who visited Feb. 22, said.

One girl even had to be pulled off freshman Jianna Gudebski by her friends at the end of recess.

The Dyer-Kelly fourth graders have varied aspirations.

Richard Myers wants to be a firefighter, while Elias Mack hopes to become a policeman.
“I love animals—just not snakes,” said Barr-Charles, who wants to be a veterinarian.

The fourth-grade lunch schedule is the only one that correlates with the time high-school students can visit.

However, the baseball team is trying to figure out a time to go and play baseball with the students, according to coach Chris Millsback.

“There’s talk of doing a Wiffle ball (game) after school, or maybe tutoring or drama. I think (the program) could grow into a partnership,” Wells said.