During the school year 2001-2002 the senior classes at Scoil Mhuire, Effin, were linked to Head O’Meadow school, Newtown, Connecticut, USA. Those were the early days of the internet and ten years ago the internet wasn’t as advanced or efficient as it is today. Nevertheless it was a great means of contact and the children used it to relate to each other. Pen pals were introduced and many letters, both electronic and postal, crossed the Atlantic. Friendships were nurtured between the pupils of both schools. Letters, stories and local information made their way from Effin to Newtown and back. Class novels were exchanged, read and discussed. All of this was a new innovation for the children. That year Effin school won the football and hurling finals in the local Primary Schools Leagues and the Head O’Meadow children were cheering them on all the way across the Atlantic.
The highlight of the year was the visit to Effin in February by Ms Karen King, the class teacher at Head O’Meadow. She brought with her letters which the pupils of her class had written to themselves. The letters contained the dreams, hopes and dearest wishes of those children. They were to be placed in a capsule and buried in the grounds of Effin school with strict instructions that they were neither to be retrieved nor opened until after 20th February 2012. The idea was that one or more of those children from Connecticut would travel to Effin, retrieve and open the capsule and get their own letters. They would also have to post the rest of the letters to the other children. Ms King took similar letters back with her from the pupils of Effin and they are also time capsule in Head O’Meadow school until such time as one of the Effin pupils retrieves them there.
And so last week an array of events climaxed when two former pupils of Ms King travelled to Effin and retrieved their school’s capsule. Samantha Kent and Ben Miles were met at the school by a group of former pupils of St. Mary’s. Both Samantha, who is studying in the University of Miami, Florida, and Ben, who is studying in the University of Maastricht, Holland, met up with their school pen pals from Effin. This was a wonderful occasion for those four people.
Special thanks to the staff of Scoil Mhuire and to Mrs. Edel Browne.