'Flat Stanley' visits UW-Whitewater
Released: December 19, 2005
Flat Stanley here at UW-Whitewater
From the red carpet at the Oscars to outer space, “Flat Stanley” has traveled far and wide to finally arrive at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater in fall 2005.
“Flat Stanley” is the main character in a series of children’s books authored by Jeff Brown. In the books, Stanley becomes flattened by a falling bulletin board and, carefully placed in an envelope, sent through the mail to distant places for new adventures.
Dale Hubert, a Canadian third-grade teacher, began the Flat Stanley Project bringing the stories into a reality. The project aims to improve children’s reading and writing skills while learning about new people and places. It begins with a classroom mailing an undecorated Flat Stanley to a destination from a list of participants. When returned, Stanley, newly decorated, includes a journal of the activities he experienced in his adventures.
UW-Whitewater’s Flat Stanley was sent by Brad Sparks, a third grade student from Whitewright, Texas. His class, in spirit of the “Flat Stanley Project,” mailed Stanley to one university in every state in the U.S.
“The goal of the project is to learn more about the country and the students seem to really enjoy it,” said UW-Whitewater Assistant Director of Admissions Troy Moldenhauer.
Since his arrival at UW-Whitewater, Stanley has gone to college football and basketball games, created a snowman, decorated a Christmas tree, gone bowling and toured campus. To complete the college experience, Stanley went on a typical student’s day in class and stayed in the dorms for a month.
“Hosting Stanley was really fun. The students had a lot of fun with him on campus,” said Moldnehauer.
In his travels and adventures along the years, Flat Stanley has visited Australia, Mount Everest, the Taj Mahal and has taken a trip on the New York subway system. He has met many celebrities including President George W. Bush, Regis Philbin, Muhammad Ali and was held up by Clint Eastwood at the 2005 Oscars. Previously, Stanley boarded the NASA’s space shuttle Discovery and orbited the Earth 4.6 million miles in space.
Since its inception in September 1995, the Flat Stanley Project has quickly grown to over hundreds of thousands of students worldwide with more than 80,000 people visiting the official Flat Stanley Project website at www.flatstanley.com for pictures and to sign up to participate.
For more information on Stanley’s visit to UW-Whitewater, contact Moldenhauer at (262) 472-1460 or moldenht@uww.edu.- Jonathan Kozlowski,kozlowskjd05@uww.edu
