For the second year in a row, Elizabeth Colahan’s senior life and lit class wrote to elementary students as ‘pen pals’. There were sixteen seniors in total that paired up with students in Stephanie Andrew’s third grade class at the Oldham Elementary School, and both parties wrote letters to one another for over six months of the school year.
As the students wrote back and forth, they discussed a variety of topics; including their hobbies, favorite T.V shows, and worldly advice . Strong connections were formed between several of the pairings, and after six rounds of letter exchanging, the students were given an opportunity to meet their penpals face-to-face.
(Camryn Cataldo)
On Thursday, May 15, those sixteen senior students traveled to the Oldham Elementary School and finally met with the third-grade class they had written to throughout the year.
“It was adorable,” said Colahan. “Those third-graders look at our seniors like they’re rockstars.”
While the third-grade students were impressed with their elder peers, many seniors were also greatly moved by their young penpals.
“My third-grader was very nice; she was smart for her age,” explained senior Mikaiya Lisenby. “They (the third-graders) got to meet us. They got to see what we look like, and see what their futures may look like.”
During their visit, the penpals had their first in-person conversation, and then gave their final pieces of advice. They then gave their final goodbyes, marking the end of the pen pal project.
As a whole, many of the senior life and lit students found a great deal of enjoyment within this project. They were given the opportunity to gain a new perspective, and many have left this project with the feeling that they have made a real difference with the children.
“You can learn new things from everybody,” said Lisenby. “She [my pen pal] taught me a few things I didn’t know before, and I think I taught her some things.”
“It was nice, because we’re graduating… going back to elementary school, meeting with students with a different point of view was cute,” she said.
Colahan intends to continue the project for many years to come. While the project is intended to help improve writing and communication skills, she does feel that there is much more to the project than what is visible to the naked eye.
“It’s old-fashioned, but I think it’s such an important piece of humanity that I like to think we’re holding onto here,” she stated.
