A friendship rooted in faith

Our names are Lydia and Addison. We are in the fourth grade at St. Mary’s School in Ballston Spa and we are best friends. We love math and science. 

Being a Catholic kid means to have a special relationship with God. It is like no other relationship. It helps us because we can talk to God about things that are wrong. For example, if we have an argument with a friend, we can pray to God to help us figure it out. Our faith is important because it connects us to our friends and Jesus Christ. The more we practice our faith, the more we are connected to our community. 

Most of the time when our class has our deepest conversations, it’s during religion classes.  We do a Family Life Program, and we learned that life begins with a single cell. We also talk about helping other people. For our fourth-grade service project, we did a school-wide food drive.  When the food drive was over, we actually walked to the food pantry. It’s like the people who go to the food pantry, sometimes have to walk there. So we felt for them by walking there like they do. When we have more than others, it’s important to share.    

We have school-wide service projects all year long, like “Coats for Kids,” a Christmas “Giving Tree,” “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus,” and Rice Bowls. 
We celebrate the sacraments. We go to Mass and receive Communion. In reconciliation, we feel really heavy at first and leave feeling refreshed. It’s like a weight have been lifted off our shoulders. We feel better and happy. 

We love St. Mary’s because of the relationships and friendships we make here. If you have a bad day, your friends will cheer you up. The teachers and staff are always kind and loving. Everyone is so fun and we have exciting activities that we do as a class. 

The curriculum at St. Mary’s school is stupendous. The teachers will take extra time to make sure you understand. “My favorite subject is the Revolutionary War, specifically, learning about Peggy Schuyler.” — Lydia.

“Personally, my favorite subject is math. Math comes easy to me and it relates to games that I play like soccer and basketball. God gave me the gift of being a good math student.” — Addison 

Our school is known as “The Small School With a Big Heart.” Everyone at our school cares about one another and we know each other by name. If someone was having a hard time, we would tell them to keep their head high, believe in God and in themselves.

Lydia Martell and Addison Whitbeck are fourth-grade students at St. Mary’s School in Ballston Spa.