Nine-year-old Lexi Reed says she'll miss Cowboy Joe, but knows he'll have plenty of stories to tell once he comes back home.

The soft, brown stuffed buffalo will leave Casper and head south to Argentina this week where a group of elementary students in San Luis will take him on adventures and write about them.

"I'm sad because I love him," said Lexi, a Manor Heights Elementary third-grade student. "I wish he were mine."

Lexi and the other Manor Heights Elementary students in Maria Garcia's Spanish Club will one day be able to read about where Cowboy Joe the buffalo has been and what he's seen as part of iEARN's Teddy Bear Project. Classes participating exchange a teddy bear or stuffed animal with another class, take it to different local places and then write about the adventures with the idea of sending it back to the original class.

The nonprofit organization helps students connect with others in the world on educational projects so they can start dialogues and learn about each other's cultures, said Anne Tollefson, Wyoming Department of Education foreign language content specialist. The school is one of three in the state that's participating in the Teddy Bear Project.

On Tuesday morning, the students were getting Cowboy Joe ready for his trip to South America by making sure personal letters, self portraits, pictures and postcards accompanied the stuffed animal on his journey. They even made time to name him, settling on Cowboy Joe or Joe el Vaquero, which is his Spanish name.

"I can't wait to see what they've sent to us," said 9-year-old Sara Martinez, another third-grader.

Abby Kersenbrock, 9, another third-grader, said the students also will get to know what it's like living in Casper. The letters the students sent were written in both Spanish and English so their counterparts will have to do some translating.

"The girls are learning English in Argentina and we are learning Spanish," said Garcia, who's a paraeducator at the school. "We share in English because it would be nice to see notes in English."

The project didn't just start with the exchange of the stuffed animals. Garcia's students have been learning about Argentina since the beginning of the school year.

Garcia, who moved to Casper several years ago from Columbia, said the program will help both sets of students develop their language skills and learn about each other. She teaches all the regular Spanish classes in the elementary school in addition to heading the Spanish Club.

Cassandra Celaya, state department of education trainer/mentor for the paraeducators, said the program will help the students learn more about other countries.

The stuffed animal exchange will be the first of many. The students will continue to keep in touch with each other through e-mail. They'll log onto the iEARN Web site and send the e-mails that way, Celaya said.

"This will raise awareness among the students," she said. "This will help broaden each student's horizons."

The club will have to be patient, though. The two sets of students have different school years, so it may be the next school year before Joe el Vaquero comes home.

Reach reporter Aimee Tabor at (307) 266-0593 or aimee.tabor@casperstartribune.net.