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June 19, 2008

Patriots player's visit a hit with South students

By Bethany Bray

A routine shopping trip to the grocery store by Andover mom Kelly Lane ended up as a dream come true for Patriots fans at South Elementary last week.

Lane won a raffle sponsored by Shaw's Supermarket and Pepsi to have a New England Patriots player visit her child's classroom, and Benjamin Watson, No. 84, visited South Elementary on June 11.

The Pats tight end picked up Lane's two children, Caroline, 9, and Alex, 6, in a limousine and brought them to school. Once at South, Watson visited Caroline and Alex's classrooms, answering questions, visiting with students and signing autographs.

Caroline and Alex were so excited that they were awake and dressed for school at 5:45 a.m. that day. Lane said she found them "sitting on the couch, waiting for Ben" when she came downstairs to make breakfast.

"He couldn't have been nicer or more in-tune with the kids and what would make it a special day for them. You could tell he really enjoyed it," Lane said of Watson. "There's a lot of kids at South that will be rooting for Ben Watson and the Patriots (now, having met him)."

Watson met with Caroline's third-grade class and Alex's first-grade class, speaking for about 45 minutes, then taking pictures and signing autographs for the 45 youngsters in the two classes.

He talked about how being a professional athlete is fun but a lot of hard work. Watson said he couldn't be where he is today if he hadn't worked hard in school, Lane said.

"He related so well to each of the kids," she said.

The Lanes gave Watson an Andover mug and T-shirt as a thank you, and Watson put the shirt on that morning and wore it to South.

Lane, who entered at the North Reading Shaw's store, said she never expected to win but entered her name in the Patriots drawing because her son is a huge Patriots fan.

The drawing was called the "second chance sweepstakes," held after a first contest to win Super Bowl tickets. Kelly Lane's name was drawn from all the entries in Shaw's stores throughout New England.

"We were thrilled," Lane said. "... just to think that Ben Watson was sitting at my kitchen table!"

 

 

Things you might not know about No. 84

Here are some interesting facts about Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson, shared on a visit to South Elementary on June 11:

— Watson played soccer as a kid and didn't start playing football until the ninth grade.

— Science was his favorite subject in school.

— Watson comes from a family of six children, four boys and two girls; his youngest brother is in sixth grade and one of his sisters is a teacher.

— Watson grew up in Virginia and South Carolina and went to the University of Georgia.

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Patriots player's visit a hit with South students
by By Bethany Bray , , Thu Jun 19, 2008, 12:48 PM EDT
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