LEWISTON — It is the third day of the new school year and the students in Kim Brown’s classroom at Farwell Elementary School are already jostling for who gets to spend lunchtime with “Grammie.”

She is Carol Christopolous, known as Grammie to the third-graders in Brown’s class.

On Friday, Christopolous spent the lunch period with four students, taking a few minutes to eat before settling in for a serious game of “Even Steven’s Odd,” a dice-rolling game.

Brown makes sure to divvy up who gets lunch with Grammie, and soon, students will be able to earn rewards to spend lunchtime with her for two consecutive days. That is how much the kids like her.

Christopolous, 72, 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.

She was a second-grade teacher in Gardiner for 26 years, which Brown says makes Christopolous an asset to her classroom. Brown has been teaching at Farwell for eight years, and Grammie has been there for the past seven.

Due to her knowledge, Christopolous’ role amounts to a volunteer educational technician. She helps students with anything from reading comprehension to math, to just a few quiet moments.

“I’m here for support,” she said Friday. “Anything they need.”

The foster grandparent program is designed to provide students with emotional, social, behavioral and academic support. Christopolous said she is not allowed to discipline students, correct papers or perform other tasks normally associated with teachers. But she can give hugs.

“If they need a hug,” she said, “I can give them a hug.”

Brown said the foster grandparent program normally pairs particular students with special needs with more one-on-one time.

Asked what they liked to do with Grammie, one student said: “Everything. I like to do everything with Grammie.”

Christopolous said she enjoys reading aloud, helping with math and research projects. She said it makes it all worthwhile when she sees something click, and a student understands the particular subject.

“She has the experience,” Brown said. “She knows what it’s like to be in the classroom.”

The teacher-Grammie duo also have an interesting backstory. When Brown was still in college trying to earn a teaching degree, she worked at Schemengees Bar & Grille in Lewiston, where Christopolous and her husband were regulars.

Their relationship blossomed from their connection through teaching, and Brown said she also considers her a grandmother figure.

Christopolous said she was retired for eight years before volunteering.

“I found that being retired wasn’t for me, and I needed to be with kids,” she said.

And when her husband died two years ago, it made her Grammie role that much more important to her. She could not wait to return for this school year, which began Wednesday.

Brown said Christopolous often fills a void in the lives of students who have either lost grandparents or aren’t close with their grandparents.

“I have so many kids who don’t have a grandparent connection,” she said.

Lewiston Mayor Kristen Cloutier, whose daughter was in Brown’s class last year, said recently her daughter’s relationship was special because Cloutier’s mother was in the end stages of Alzheimer’s disease at the time.

“She provided a support for us that we just didn’t have at the time,” Cloutier said. “I imagine it was the same for a lot of kids who didn’t have a close relationship with their own grandparents.

“When my mom passed, she provided some continuity for my daughter and I think that helped a lot with her grieving process. It was a special situation that I don’t think I ever thanked her for. She probably doesn’t even know the impact she had.”

When asked if she had a plan for how long she will remain foster grandparent, Christopolous said, “As long as I can.”

During the often-rousing lunchtime game Friday, one student belted out, “I’m not winning!” after coming up short a few rounds in a row.

Grammie responded: “You’re trying. Isn’t that the important thing?”

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.

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