MILLERSVILLE CHILDREN PROVIDE SCHOOL WITH PRETEND POSTAL PROGRAM

Robert Welker, 7, and Brittany Brown, 7, write letters to mail to their friends at Millersville School.

Next week, 10-year-old Adam Davis begins his new job as the postmaster in Millersville. OK, just at the Millersville School, but it still looks to be a tough job.

Only eight Millersville students will get a taste of what running a post office would really be like, but the program will give all students a chance to participate.

Every student will write letters twice a week. Each room, which houses an individual grade, will act as a city. One student from each class will act as the mail carrier, taking all the letters to the post office, formerly known as the teachers' lounge.

There, the eight postal "employees" will miss some class time in order to sort the mail, stamp the mail and make sure it gets delivered to the right address.

"I heard about it through another school," said Millersville teacher Monica Parsons. "There they are doing it as an after-school project, but we wanted to get the whole school involved."

Parson says this is an excellent learning experience for the students. They're learning how to write letters, address envelopes and even see that the mail doesn't just get to the mail box all on its own.

"Besides, it's not very often that you can pass notes in class and not get in trouble for it," Parsons said.

The postmaster is going to be in charge of the operation, so Parsons wanted to be sure to get someone who would do a good job. And she feels she made a good decision by choosing Adam Davis.

Davis was only one of the applicants who wanted the job. The students not only had to apply, they had to take a written test, go through an oral interview as well as agree to have their desks checked for organization.

After all of these things were considered, Davis was chosen.

"He did very well on his test," Parsons said. "He did an excellent job during his interview -- his answers were fantastic." And Parsons said that for a boy, his desk was "pretty darn clean."

Davis is a bit nervous about his new job as postmaster. Maybe it's because his grandfather was post master in Millersville for 10 years.

"He wants to do a really good job," Parsons said. "But he's afraid he's going to make a mistake. But he's also very excited."

Parsons said that other children will get a chance to be postmaster at the school; the job will only last six to nine weeks. Then they'll start the process all over again.

Other positions were for assistant postmaster and nixie clerks -- nixie clerks are the people who make sure the address is correct.

"I'm hoping they learn responsibility as well as becoming better writers," Parsons said.