BY ANDY MATTHEWS NEWS EDITOR
The Elkin Tribune
Seven-year-old Samantha Walker was looking for a friend. And she found one in the nation’s capital.
“I will remember this day for a long, long time,” U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx told a group of second-graders at West Yadkin Elementary School Wednesday afternoon. “I’m so glad that Samantha wrote me.”
Foxx, a Republican representing the 5th District, kept a promise she made to Walker, a student in Catherine Morrison’s class. Walker wrote to Foxx, asking her to adopt a tiny friend of hers. Foxx agreed and then went a step further, telling Samantha she would return her friend in person.
“When Samantha found out that Virginia Foxx was coming here, there was a twinkle in her eye,” Morrison said.
Foxx and Walker’s new friendship is part of the Flat Stanley reading project, which allows elementary school students all over the globe to send and receive the paper cutout character. Stanley, the title character from the 1964 book of the same name, is squashed flat by a falling bulletin board.
Each year, Morrison’s students read about Stanley’s mishap. The new “parents” roll Stanley up, put him in an envelope and mail the razor-thin character to friends at home and abroad. Second-graders have sent Stanley to the far reaches of the earth, including Afghanistan, Australia and Iraq.
Morrison suggested that Walker contact Foxx.
“She wanted to know if she was a famous person, and I said ‘yes,’” Morrison recalled. Foxx wrote Walker after Stanley arrived at her D.C. offices. She agreed to adopt him for a month. Then it would be time for Stanley to return home. That’s when Foxx decided to make a special delivery.
Sitting nervously in their seats, anticipating Foxx’s arrival, Morrison encouraged her students to remain calm. Behind Morrison was a greeting on the blackboard, “Welcome Representative Foxx!” topped off with a smiley face.
With Walker sitting next to her side at the front of the class, Foxx thanked the students for some gifts, including a West Yadkin Eagles Tshirt, license plate and bumper sticker. Foxx gave students a brief civics lesson, explaining her role in the legislative process. A former college instructor, Foxx soon hit her stride, making eye contact with each child while she mixed humor and history to make her point.
“I hope this will make you more interested in your government,” Foxx said, explaining that she is just one of 224 women who have served in a Congress with 12,000 alumni.
After a biographical sketch, Foxx took some questions. But these weren’t traditional topics on domestic and foreign policy. These inquisitive students had other things on their minds.
“What does Abraham Lincoln look like sitting in his chair?” one girl asked.
Foxx paused for a moment before offering up her interpretation. “He’s pretty imposing,” she said. “He’s one of our greatest presidents. I hope you get a chance someday to visit Washington and the Lincoln Memorial.” More hands in the air and more questions. “Do you have a limousine?” a boy asked. “No, I walk to work,” Foxx replied, adding that members of Congress “don’t have people who look after us.” “Do you like your job?” another asked. Foxx nodded and smiled.
“I really love working in Washington D.C. I leave late at night and I get very emotional because I’m so proud to live in the greatest country in the world,” Foxx said, her voice choking with emotion. “I get goose bumps.”
Foxx told the students that she returns to her home in Banner Elk almost every weekend. When she’s not on the phone, responding to an e-mail or helping a constituent, Foxx said that she likes to read — a point not lost on Morrison who reminds her students that reading is essential.
“I love to read,” Foxx said. “If I had nothing else to do in the world I would read.”
Foxx, who is known for her grueling schedule, said that she rises early and stays up late to get the job done.
‘I work in the ‘people’s house,’” she said. “I don’t forget that.”
As she left the classroom, Foxx posed for pictures and handed out business cards to students who surrounded her. And like any good politician, she told the future voters to stay in touch.
“I encourage you to write,” she said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
U.S. Rep, Virginia Foxx talks with students at West Yadkin Elementary School Wednesday afternoon with second-grader Samantha Walker at her side.
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