Foster grandparent Roberta Greenlaw volunteers at the Walton School in Auburn and helps Trent Hartford with his school work Thursday morning. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Roberta Greenlaw always dreamed of being a school teacher, but it didn’t happen the traditional way.

After retiring and volunteering as a foster grandparent, she’s made her way back into the classroom and is working with students for a few years. 

“They just win your heart,” she said Thursday at Walton Elementary School in Auburn, as students crowded around her.

Greenlaw, of Auburn, volunteers at the school four mornings a week, part of the foster grandparent program of Penquis, a Bangor-based nonprofit that provides a variety of services to mostly low-income communities.  

The pupils in the second grade classroom call her “Nana,” and it’s obvious they like having her with them. The full-time teacher, Jill Hughes, said Greenlaw has been volunteering in her classroom for the past four years, and is “dependable like clockwork.” 

The class of about 20 was working on addition and subtraction in math workbooks, and students routinely hovered around her, wanting her to check their work. She’d also often receive hugs. 

Greenlaw, 73, goes everywhere with the students, eating breakfast with them and going to music class, the library and physical education. She reads with students one-on-one, and is meant to provide emotional support.

“They’ll fight to read with her,” Hughes said. “She’s just a nice, nurturing figure.”

Greenlaw said that because she spends all her time with one classroom, she gets to bond with students over the entire school year. She said students she had last year, who are now in third grade, come up to her in the halls and tell her they miss her. 

When asked to name their favorite thing to do with ‘Nana,’ one student said “read Captain Underpants!” Another said to give her hugs. 

“She’s our best friend,” one student said. 

Greenlaw grew up in Maine, but raised her family in Massachusetts. She worked for a long time in transportation in Massachusetts and for the Maine Turnpike once she returned to Maine, retiring in 2006.

She has four children and a number of grandchildren, including a set of triplets. 

“When I was young, I always wanted to be a school teacher,” she said. “I feel like my dream is being recognized.” 

Walton Elementary has a total of three foster grandparents volunteering through Penquis. 

Walton Principal Michael Davis said the foster grandparent program is an asset to the school.” He said the three “grammies” at Walton provide “an amazing boost to students’ social and emotional well-being, as well as their academic needs.” 

Greenlaw said if students get frustrated or don’t understand something, they’ll often turn to her for support. 

“I try to help them understand it,” she said, adding that reading skills are especially important. “I can see the improvement through the year.” 

“Having a grandparent figure in school as a volunteer is a gift to our students as their loving approach reassures students that they can do what is asked of them,” Davis said in an email. 

He said foster grandparents are placed in schools based on the “willingness of classroom teachers to accept them into their community.”

Penquis has volunteers serving in schools, hospitals and other community needs in 14 counties. Greenlaw said they “are always looking for volunteers,” and offer stipends for the work. 

“I would love to have one in every room as the impact they have on our children goes way beyond just academics,” he said. “For many this may be the only grandparent figure they have in their lives.”

Toward the end of the class, students lined up to get ready to head to music class. Some students asked ‘Nana’ if she was still coming. She reassured them she would catch up with them.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “You should see these kids in music — and I’m in there singing. It’s precious.” 

Know someone with a deep well of unlimited public spirit? Someone who gives of their time to make their community a better place? Then nominate them for Kudos. Send their name and the place where they do their good deeds to reporter Andrew Rice at arice@sunjournal.com and we’ll do the rest.