On Friday, April 16th, over 65 energetic fourth graders from Flamingo Elementary gathered with their Miami Law student buddies to read, make crafts, and play games together.  Haydee Sera, Valerie Bonventre, Josayln Riedler, Arye Emert organized this party to celebrate the culmination of HOPE’s Books and Buddies Program.

This semester, the fourth graders from Flamingo Elementary exchanged a story they created with their law school buddies every two weeks. The buddies met each other for the first time at the end of the semester celebration. "The students love it,” says teacher Beatriz Rodriguez, “it inspires the children to reach their goals." 1L Cecilia Traini says, "Books and Buddies has been a great experience.  Our story was the first one my buddy, Orelvis, had ever written.  Now he's really excited to keep writing."

When asked what kind of impact Books and Buddies has on the children, teacher Astrid Arrojo replied, “Books and Buddies helps the students apply what they are learning in school to real life…they learn from their interactions with their law student buddies.” Miami Law students enjoy the program as well.  "I very much enjoyed the project – it was a welcome break from studying.  I look forward to continuing my involvement" says Dale Doubuler a 1L.