One of the most highly acclaimed and popular films of 2017 was “Wonder,” that starred, Julia Roberts and several very talented and gifted child actors. The film is based on a New York Times bestselling book about a fifth-grade boy who suffers from a rare medical facial deformity condition called, Mandibulofacial Dysostosis. The main character, Augie faces trials and tribulations and bullying as he attends fifth grade, after being homeschooled for several years.

Erin Hamilton is a teacher at Jersey Shore Elementary School, and one of the things that her students do are “Interactive Read Alouds.” The book Wonder was one of the titles that she was assigned to read for fourth graders. Hamilton said this book was very inspiring to her students. She also enjoyed this book so much that she read it again over the summer with her daughter (who is in fourth grade).

“Prior to entering the 2017-2018 school year, I joined a group on Facebook called ‘The Wonder Certified Classroom,’” Hamilton told Webb Weekly. “This group offered a lot of suggestions to teachers on how to guide their instruction through the book. As our school year progressed, we completed reading the book Wonder right before the release of the movie. I, of course, attended the movie with my daughter. My students were so excited about the movie release. They talked about it nonstop! Several of my students and their families attended the movie too. Just when I thought that we had completed this fabulous book, I was introduced to Megan Brown via the Facebook group.”

Megan Brown is from Washington state and was on a mission to speak with students in all 50 states to share her story. Hamilton came to find out that Megan had a craniofacial journey that was similar to the main character of August (aka “Auggie”). This mission she set out for was to share her “real life Auggie story” with students all over the U.S.A. When Hamilton read about this, she immediately messaged her asking if Hamilton’s students could help her and be a part of her mission. This was when their journey started.

After meeting with the “amazing” IT department at Jersey Shore School District, the possibility became a reality.

“On Friday, February 2, my students collaborated in a Skype session with Megan Brown. This session began with her explaining to my students her childhood and experiences,” Hamilton said. “She then opened it up to allow my students to ask her questions. I had asked my students to prepare questions prior to our meeting, but I encouraged them to listen to her and create their questions based on what she told us that day. My students were very engaged and seemed to be hanging on her every word! She was impressed by the level of questioning that they were bringing. One question was how many conversations has she had so far. Her response was 170 (across many platforms), we were her 171st.”

Hamilton continued, “She actually complimented them that two of their questions she had never been asked before! This experience for my students is one that I could have never been able to offer to them alone. The author of Wonder, R.J. Palacio, has given our students some very powerful messages to live by thanks to developing the content of this story. Thanks to Megan and others like her, students all over our country are all hearing a similar message — When given a choice between being right and being kind, CHOOSE KIND.”

Hamilton provided some quotes from her students as to their reaction to this unique experience.

“We were talking to Megan Brown on Skype, and I asked, ‘Did you have a friend like Summer?’ Megan said, ‘Well, I had several.’”

Kayden then asked, “Did you have friends like Julian?” Megan responded with,“I didn’t really have anyone quite as mean as Julian.”

Peyton loved Megan’s response of, “I have definitely had more ‘Summers’ than ‘Julians!’”

Maddison said, “It was a really cool opportunity to see someone who is different, and that has a life just like August from the book.”

“She honestly is the same as everyone else. She was sweeter than most people that I’ve ever known,” said Leena.

Brennan stated, “When I experienced a moment with Megan, I realized that there is always hope.”

“She was really nice. She gets us — and we get her!” said Bella.

“I loved the experience. It was awesome because Megan was so nice and she used her time to talk with us at Jersey Shore Elementary School,” commented Grayden.