There weren’t any forks in the path diverting to adventurous back roads. As far as I knew, there were no exquisite silverware shops in town. In fact, the only store that seemed to have more than five vehicles parked outside was Thriftway/Forks Outfitters, the local grocery store equivalent to a Fred Meyer in Seattle. It is often thought that small-town residents lack the capacity to succeed academically. Over the course of a week, the children I worked with proved this stereotype false.

I spent my spring break in the small town of Forks, Wash., located on the Olympic Peninsula. With a population of 3,175, Forks is a charming rural community. During my week off, I helped third- and fourth-graders develop short stories. Compassion was the theme of this year’s Alternative Spring Break program, and my group’s challenge was to come up with a curriculum that would best address the theme to third- and fourth-grade students.

I awoke to a fresh blanket of snow Monday morning. It was this positive first impression of Forks that set the mood for my first day at Forks Elementary School.

Some students used the concept of compassion to relate back to personal, often emotionally honest experiences. Others utilized their imaginations to create outlandish magical characters that used compassion as a solution to the conflict in their stories.

Austin, a self-proclaimed geography aficionado, was sure his story had elements of compassion. His main character’s goal of compassion involved traveling to Washington, D.C., to save the president, helping the pope write a speech in Vatican City, flying to Beijing to help rebuild the Great Wall and finally heading back to Forks to build a mini-McDonalds for all of his classmates.

The students’ imaginations pushed them to think beyond an assignment about compassion and to apply the theme to real world situations. By the time the students lined up at the door to catch their buses home, there was no doubt in my mind that the 10-year-olds at Forks Elementary could grasp and apply the concept of compassion, a large word with one “m,” one “p” and two “s’.” The level of cognizance in this group of elementary school students was highly underestimated. The students’ awareness of the world around them debunked stereotypes of them being less intelligent than students in an urban community.

The last group I worked with consisted of six energetic and ambitious students.

One student in particular had special needs; he had trouble with his speech and hearing comprehension. The first word he wrote for me was his name: Matthew.

As most of my students were sewing their books together and preparing to illustrate pages, Matthew showed me his favorite book, The Star Wars Storybook. I was instructed to write sentences so he could copy them to practice his handwriting skills.

I was convinced that Matthew could create a short story about compassion, just like his peers. With my extensive knowledge of science fiction films and Matthew’s interpretation of the main characters, we were able to summarize the entire Star Wars saga in three complete sentences revolving around compassion. Matthew spent the week copying the sentences to perfection, illustrating R2D2 and reading his story to me.

On my last day in Forks, each class sat in a large circle, eager to share their stories. As most of my students proudly read their stories to the class, I began to reflect on my time spent in a town most could not point out on a map. Students in Forks are imaginative, creative and still loved school and recess. I’ve learned that these students are distinctively intelligent. Perhaps living in a small town is a contributing factor, but the students have a greater sense of the world outside of their immediate environment. When I asked students about the inspiration to their stories, they often ended up revealing their future ambitions, which are mature and worldly.

Educational stereotypes are often tied to small towns. I’ve learned that the size of a town doesn’t always reflect the level of academic success in its residents. In fact, it does little to affect what students can accomplish. Education for them is often internal and draws on the experiences they’ve had at a young age. Perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned is that the pace at which students learn does little to affect what they can ultimately achieve.

As story-sharing time drew to a close, Matthew slowly raised his hand, and looked at me questioningly. He asked me to open his book for him as he sat up. He then read his story of compassion to the class.

“He’s never read in front of the class before,” his teacher Miss Kirk said. “This is a huge step for him.”

[Reach reporter Vicky Yan at features@thedaily.washington.edu.]

For more coverage on Alternative Spring Break 2008, check out the HuskyCast online at theuwdaily.com.