Photo Credit: Bert’s Tabletop Games

By Clara Schossow

Staff Writer

The race is on! But it is not a typical race as you would think of. The race is called The Great Mail Race and it is a project that was created for students to connect with students from other schools all over the United States. This year, Hammond’s ASL classes decided to participate in the race and connect with students all over America. 

The goal of The Great Mail Race is to research a highschool in each state which the students find through a Google Search and send a letter to them. This year our ASL class received a letter from a school from Virginia which informed them about the project and about their school and community. After that the students started researching a school for each state and created a questionnaire which included information about Hammond and our community. In addition to that, the students voted on their favorite movie, sport, song and TV show and added the results to the questionnaire. Besides that, the letter includes information about The Great Mail Race and information on how to reciprocate. 

When they finished their letters and questionnaires, the students decided to also send a package to schools in Puerto Rico, Guam and to the Alaska Native Cultural Charter school because these areas are left out of The Great Mail Race. In these packages they included self made things which they made in class and things that represent Hammond and Maryland. These things were added by staff members from our schools. 

By participating in this project, the students practiced their reading and writing skills which are important to follow the curriculum. But besides that, the students practiced other important skills. They learned how to address envelopes, fold letters and put the stamps on. They practiced their research and accuracy skills when they researched the school and had to find out if they were suitable for the project. The project also let them practice their organization skills since they had to work on their own for most of the time and plan the project. 

The teacher, Mrs. Henry, started this project with the students to make the class more interactive and because she “thought it would be something good for them” (Mrs. Henry, ASL teacher at Hammond). Her intent was to create a more entertaining and stress-free environment for her students. The emphasis isn’t on the work itself but on developing important life skills. When asked if her students liked participating in The Great Mail Race, she answered that “they feel really good because they have reached out to other places and connected with other schools” (Mrs. Henry, ASL teacher). 
Since the classes have sent out all their letters, the interesting question is if they have already received responses from the schools. Their teacher, Mrs. Henry, documented two responses so far but they are still waiting for all the other schools to reply. The Great Mail race is a great opportunity for students to connect with other schools, learn about other places and communities and to practice important life skills for their future.