A new course being offered by Huron County libraries is teaching grade school students how to improve their cursive writing skills.
Acting Branch Services Librarian Ellen Whelan explains the program started when a parent in Exeter pointed out that young children were losing the ability to write clearly.
The comment was discussed at a programming committee meeting and it was decided to make the new program county-wide and help the kids by connecting them with people who still had those writing skills – seniors.
“It came about just by a parent commenting that kids are losing that skill. So it went to a programming committee that we have here at the library and we decided that it would be a program throughout the county and it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” says Whalen.
She says the program has become very popular with the kids and the seniors. Next month the students will get a chance to meet the seniors or be matched up with a new senior pen pal.
She adds it's the seniors "who are seen to have better handwriting, who have the skill, could communicate with the young people learning, and a lot of the programs run with grade school level kids and they're learning now how to cursive write."
Students interested in improving their writing skills can contact any Huron County library branch for more information.