U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and his wife, Franki, came to Village School Thursday afternoon to read to Colleen Mitchell’s fourth-grade class and talk about the life-long importance of reading. But it was the lively exchanges afterward that likely dominated table talk in the children’s homes that evening.
The senator proved to be an adult with a natural affinity for children, and the children noticed that quickly enough.
The Robertses relaxed on chairs close to the children’s round tables as they took turns reading “Miss Nelson Is Missing,” a humorous mystery about a rowdy class whose teacher disappears and is replaced by a substitute teacher who runs the class like a drill sergeant.
Before the story line resolves itself, Chris, one of Mitchell’s students, quietly predicted its outcome. Roberts stretched across the space between them to give the boy a high-five.
“This guy’s got it all figured out,” Roberts said.
The youngsters sat quietly later, while the senator reiterated the importance of being able to read English.
“It’s a great thing if you have a second language ability,” Roberts added.
Still seated among the front tables, the senator asked the same question of each child: If you could be anything you wanted to be 23, 24 years down the road, what would it be?
Roberts said he had been a journalist and a teacher before getting into politics.
“I’m quite a bit older than you, but I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up,” he told them.
One of the students wanted to play violin in an orchestra; another wanted to coach professional football and another wanted to be a race car driver.
“Like Clint?” Roberts asked, letting the kids know he, too, has heard of Emporia’s NASCAR connection.
Another child wanted to be a lawyer.
“Well, we need lawyers. Not many of ’em, but we need lawyers,” Roberts said, drawing laughs from his audience.
Roberts talked to the youngsters about the ways reading plays a role in each of the careers they’d mentioned. Without the ability to read well, career choices are narrowed.
“If you can find something that you really like to do and you’re good at it … that’s great,” he said. “If you find something you don’t like to do but you have to earn a living, that’s not so good.”
As Roberts was turning to leave, Mitchell and the students called him back for what could only be called an encore. The students wanted to know more details about what Roberts does for a living, and they had other questions, too.
He described a typical day as a senator, from the terrible traffic on the drive from Alexandria into the city to working out compromises on laws for the nation.
“Sometimes we have a difference of opinion, and that’s called politics,” Roberts said, and offered a suggestion for the youngsters to begin practicing now as they deal with others.
“Have a little tolerance for their viewpoint. … Put yourself in their shoes,” he said. “We’re not doing a very good job of that in the Congress right now. We’re going to try to do better.”
He recommended that, should they choose politics as a career, they would need to have a good sense of humor and a love for people and public service.
“Don’t take yourself seriously, take your job very seriously,” he said.
The senator strolled among the students as he talked, stopping occasionally to give a youngster a pat on the arm or a squeeze on the shoulder. He showed that he had paid attention to their answers about career plans by referring to their choices as he made remarks to individual students.
“How old are you?” one of the students asked.
“71,” another child responded on the senator’s behalf.
“If I’m 71, what year was I born?” Roberts asked, bending down to help a student work out the math problem.
“1899?” one youngster guessed.
“1937,” a boy called out.
“Hey, you’re right, Coach,” Roberts said.
Before the hour-long visit ended, the senator had handed a business card to one of the children.
“Sweet!” the boy responded.
The card held phone numbers and an e-mail address that Roberts invited the class to use.
“You send me an e-mail,” he told the class. “I promise I’ll answer it.”
He invited the children to visit his office, 109 Hart Office Building, if they come to Washington, D.C.
“Please visit my office,” Roberts said. “We’ll have a good time. I can take you on a tour of the Capitol.”
After Roberts and the group accompanying him left, Mitchell’s class took a few moments to settle down. Roberts had come in as a senator and gone out as a friend.
“I thought he actually was nice and I liked the advice he gave me,” Jonah Muench said later. “I think he’s kind.”
Jonah’s tablemates — Corbin Timperley, Brianna Austin and Mario Sandoval — were similarly impressed, also describing Roberts variously as kind, nice and fun.
And, Jonah said quietly, maybe the senator would be able to help his family and others who have lost their jobs at Tyson.