BALTIMORE — Fourth-graders at Stoneleigh Elementary School in Towson are sending "get well" cards to a Baltimore truck driver who survived after a United Airlines flight clipped his vehicle on the New Jersey Turnpike earlier this month.
Warren Boardley was driving north on the New Jersey Turnpike for Baltimore-based H&S Bakery when investigators say a plane bound for Newark Airport clipped his truck. Officials said his injuries were minor, and he went home to recover.
His story caught the attention of a fourth-grade class at Stoneleigh Elementary, where their teacher, Dr. Kelli Hickey, saw it as a teachable moment, imparting kindness and community.
Dr. Hickey told WMAR-2 News the students voted to write Boardley cards after seeing video of the incident.
"When we think about them 10, 20, 30 years from now, we want them to be kind, responsible citizens," Hickey said.
"I felt like this was a great way for us to show, that we are a community," Hickey added. "And when we talked about why we wanted to do that, we said, he's from Baltimore, we're from Baltimore, we are all in a community together."
Students got to work crafting their own handmade cards for Boardley.
"I made this get better soon card, not just because I felt bad for him. It's because I cared for him," fourth-grader Avery McCartin said.
Fourth-grader Camden Johnson said the project left him with a lesson about how people should treat one another.
"I learned that if you, that if you help others they will help you, and if everybody supports everybody the world will be better and easier for everybody," Camden told WMAR-2 News.
The class is mailing the cards to Boardley on Wednesday.
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