MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - The faces of students at Opequon Elementary School light up when they see Darris Sandlin walk into their classroom.
Sandlin, 82, of Martinsburg, is part of the Foster Grandparent Program, a statewide program which connects elderly people who are on a fixed income to become involved in the community, said Tana Burkhart, principal at Opequon Elementary.
Working at Opequon Elementary as a part of the program, Sandlin reads to students and helps them with their projects. She has been working at the school since September of last year.
“I work a lot in the classroom,” she said. “I just left pre-K class. We were painting Christmas trees, which were pine cones. I got most of the paint off my fingers.”
Participants of the program have to go through at least 20 hours of training before they are able to work, Burkhart said.
Sandlin said before working with children, she was an employee of K-Mart for over 30 years before it closed.
Being around the students brings Sandlin a lot of happiness, she said.
“I especially like working with the little ones,” she said.
Burkhart said Sandlin works from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is always supervised by a teacher.
“She works with the teachers,” she said. “The teacher might assign her a group of students to work with in stations, or if some of the students might be struggling and need a little bit extra mentoring or help, she will do that.”
Sandlin said she appreciates how much the students enjoy her company.
“The pre-K, you can hear them all over the school when I walk in in the morning,” she said. “They go, ‘Hi Ms Darris!’”
Sandlin said she has five children, seven grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She said raising children and time spent with her family has prepared her to work at Opequon Elementary.
“Being used to being around kids has probably helped her,” Burkhart said. “It made it easier to get involved in our classroom communities, having the grandchildren that she’s had.”
Working with the students is something Sandlin said she looks forward to every morning.
Makena Minter, pre-K student at Opequon Elementary, said she gets excited when she gets to spend time with Sandlin. She said she misses her mother at school, and Sandlin makes her feel better.
“We make gingerbread houses,” she said. “We made pine cone trees.”
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