Longmeadow teacher shares hopes and dreams for former students

Aug. 10, 2020 | Sarah Heinonen
sarah@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – Many high school seniors think back over their academic careers and the teachers who have had an impact on them. The 2020 graduating class of Longmeadow High School had the rare opportunity to realize one of those teachers has been thinking of them, too.

Julia Longo, a teacher in the Longmeadow Public Schools (LPS), sent an email to the 21 students whom she taught in her first year as a third-grade teacher at Center School. Those students graduated high school this year in the midst of a pandemic, economic crisis and social unrest.

"I think about them often," Longo said of her first third graders. "I knew this was their graduation year." She said that she knew many of their families because Longmeadow is so close-knit.

Longo told Reminder Publishing she felt for the students who were "missing out on prom and special events and missing out on graduation. They didn't have the closure," of ending their school careers in the traditional manner. That, she said, coupled with the uncertainty of their fall plans and college made her want to let them know "we're thinking about you and rooting for you."

So Longo, who is now a reading intervention teacher, sent a letter to the LPS email addresses of her first third-graders. She said she was aware that at least a couple of students had moved away and one had left the district, but she tried to send the letter to as many students as possible.

In it, Longo told her former students how special they were to her, wrote about all the ways life had changed since she last saw most of them in 2011 and shared her disappointment for the way this year turned out for them.

"I don't know who all of you are now, but I did know who you were at one point many years ago," Longo wrote to the seniors. "So I do know that each one of you, even at a very young age was resilient. You were creative, unique and talented. You all had ambitions, tenacity and a whole lot to show the world. So I know without a doubt that if those were qualities that existed in you as a third-grader, they are still characteristics within you now."  She said she knew they would come through the current struggles because of those the traits she saw in them as children.

Longo said her letter received positive reactions from the graduates.

"It opened up a whole kind of reconnect," Longo said. Many of the students emailed her back thanking her for reaching out, catching up and talking about what's coming up for them.

"It's such a beautiful letter and lifts one's spirits, and don't we all need a little of that lately," said John Shea, whose daughter, Maeve, was one of Longo's students that year.

When the students entered third grade that year, she had them do a project that identified their hopes and dreams for the year and for themselves, as she has done with each of her classes since. She reminded them of that project in her letter and spoke about the hopes an dreams she has for them moving forward.

"I hope you find something that you love doing as much as I love teaching. I dream that you experience great joy and happiness in your everyday life, cherish small moments, and you do great things to change our world for the better. My dream for you is that you always continue learning and growing as an individual, and whatever you do, I hope you will influence and impact others with compassion, empathy, love and kindness," she told her first third-graders.

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