Friendly Flyers at Harlingen elementary school find unity in differences

Autumn Aleman, a fifth grader at Stuart Place Elementary, plays with Legos with fourth grader Hector Martinez on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (Courtesy: HCSID)

HARLINGEN — The unity of difference.

It is a grand and noble principle that not only sounds good but is good.

More importantly, it’s doable.

Rampant division in our current times makes this goal seem out of reach sometimes. However, the children at Stuart Place Elementary are making it happen in real time through a new program called the Friendly Flyer Club.

“We try to meet at least once a month as a group,” said Teacher Mandy Zapata. “Then we do have our fifth graders that have their friendship flyer week in which they go into the Life Skills classroom. They each have a buddy or a couple of buddies that they are paired up with. And then they have designated days throughout that week. So it runs for the entire week.”

The children in the Friendly Flyer Club seem to have fully embraced both the purpose of the club and the mere joy of new friends.

“For the first week of school, I helped little kids go to their classrooms,” said Anita Vicencio, a fifth grader.

“I remember there was this one kid who didn’t talk much,” Anita said. “I helped him get to his classroom, and I hugged him and hoped he would have a good day at school. It made me feel joy because I am helping somebody that can’t do it by himself.”

She has already acquired a fond memory of helping a buddy decorate a Christmas tree.

“I feel like I am learning how to connect with people who may have disabilities,” she said.

Fifth graders Isadora Perech, left and Anita Vicencio, right, are both members of the Friendly Flyer Club at Stuart Place Elementary and they love working with Life Skills students. They are seen on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (Courtesy: HCISD)

She nailed it. That’s what this program is all about: connection rather than division.

The program, Zapata explained, was started by Stuart Place Principal Katy Johnson.

“We wanted to figure out a way we could encourage inclusivity and embrace each other’s differences,” Zapata said. “We are making other students aware that yeah we are all different. Some of us have disabilities, some of us speak differently, look differently. We wanted to expose them to others who have differences and let them know that we are all in this world together.”

The message is reaching many.

“I have learned that they usually like to play with us, like they would ask to play with us,” said Isadora Perech, a fifth grader.

“The first day I came in, one of the kids went up to me and just hugged me and said, ‘You want to play with me?’,” she said. “And that was sweet. I felt special.”

Well put.

At least the fifth graders are getting it.

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