WAUNAKEE — Every month, 18 third-graders from St. John the Baptist School have trekked down the street to Cannery Row to meet with their "grandfriends."

Most of the original 18 grandfriends live at the senior apartment building and others have carpooled there. During the year, others have joined in.

The mixed generations have participated in a variety of activities, from decorating pumpkins to playing math games. The students also interviewed their grandfriends to write their biographies, which will be presented to the senior friends at an end-of-the-year celebration May 27.

"I just love coming here every month to see what we’re going to do," said third-grader Gretchen Hoppe, who has been paired with Sue Heathman.

The students’ teacher, Cheryl Endres, has been brought to tears by what has transpired.

"Just to see the kids so excited about learning. … Every time we go over there it is something educational," she said. "The relationships that have developed, I just never saw coming."

Many of the relationships have continued outside of the scheduled visits. Some students and their families have visited their grandfriends on weekends. Some sent cards and gifts to one another, spent holidays together, talked on the phone or went to community events and movies together.

Many of the grandfriends have come to school events and some students have asked to call their new friend grandma or grandpa.

When the students conducted the interviews for the biographies, their grandfriends were asked to bring something special from their past. Tom Clark, who served in World War II, gave third-grader Lukas Daniels a patch from his uniform.

Some students were paired up with particular grandfriends because of the work they did. For example, third-grader Sydney Dorn, who wants to be a teacher, has been meeting with Gert Pett, who taught for many years. Alejandro Onate, who wants to be a priest one day, has been paired up with the Rev. Henry Kalscheuer.

The project, which Endres hopes to do annually, started as a way to get her students out in the community. Endres also had a personal reason — she wanted an opportunity to have her grandparents involved in her classroom. That led to Armella Endres and Harold and Mary Ann Schwartz, all of Waunakee, participating as grandfriends.