Pen Pal Program Connects Students, Seniors

The lost art of letter writing has helped fourth-graders at in Huntington Woods bridge the generation gap with seniors in their community and find their voices along the way.

The 22 students in teacher Adam Keegan's classroom are learning to express themselves and hone their writing skills by exchanging letters once a month with senior buddies from Huntington Woods. In turn, the seniors have an opportunity to encourage the youngsters and reminisce.

"It's amazing how they can relate to each other," said Keegan, who lives in Berkley. "(The seniors) really empower the kids and value what they say. They must be natural at that because you can't take a class to value what kids have to say."

Keegan provides the students with some direction about what to write, urging them to ask and respond to questions, tell the seniors what they're learning about, share their interests and say what's new in their lives.

"It seems to flow pretty well and, after a few letters, they become natural at that style of writing," he said.

A meeting over tea is planned for May

In May, seniors will come to the school to meet their pen pals and have tea, an event all involved look forward to, Keegan said.

Fourth-grader Abbey Cross, who received her first reply around Thanksgiving, said she can't wait to meet her pen pal at the end of the year.

"I really like it because it's unusual because you don't get to write to a senior citizen a lot," she said. "You get to talk to your grandparents, but not a new person."

Senior pen pal Rick Tripp, who has kept every letter he's received over the course of 13 years, said he feels the same way.

"It's like going down memory lane," he said. "I get to talk to the kids on a different basis than my own grandkids."

Program has been a success since starting in the early 1990s

Tripp's wife Margaret, who was the 's senior outreach coordinator for 19 years before her retirement three years ago, started the program in the early 1990s.

"Families were beginning to move away from their home base, so the grandparents were here and the parents were over there," she said. "So, the idea was to let the kids know there are people in the community who can tell them stories like their grandparents. From an educational standpoint, it was to improve their writing skills. It was also to let the children know there was someone in the community who was interested in them."

Jake Cooper, for example, was thrilled his senior pen pal liked his jokes. In his first letter, Jake included this riddle:

"Take off my skin. I won't cry, but you will. Who am I?" Answer: An onion.

His writing buddy, Mr. Natinsky, responded, "Your jokes are funny and I laughed, which made me feel good. Keep the jokes coming if you would like too."

"It's fun to write back and forth with someone and figure out what they like," Jake said.

Parents support the program

The students' parents also find the pen pal program to be a valuable academic tool.

"Writing letters is a lost art form," said Abbey's mom, Carol Cross. "Learning how to put information into a letter to send information or to get information is still a wonderful way to communicate."

Abbey piped up: "It's kind of weird because we use a lot of e-mail or texting now and you don't really write letters anymore."

To which her mom responded: "The other nice thing to know with letter writing is it isn't instantaneous. You have to have patience. And, you have to have legible penmanship."

Jake's dad, Jason Cooper, agreed.

"I think it's important," he said. "It helps students work on their writing skills and work on complete sentences instead of texting. ... It gives students pride and self-esteem in being able to express themselves."

Plus, Cooper said, it provides real-life connections to what the kids are learning about in school.

Bridging the generations with writing

Rick and Maragaret Tripp said they have been able to teach kids about days past on numerous occasions.

One letter writer asked Margaret Tripp what her favorite show on TV was when she was a girl and the senior had to explain her family didn't have a television set when she was a little girl.

"It's fun to write about that," Tripp said. "... It brings focus to your younger days, so you really have to stop and think – who was my favorite teacher? I find it to be a pleasant experience to think back on younger days."

Sometimes the connections continue after fourth grade.

"I see my pen pals around town and say hi," said Rick Tripp, who had a surprise visit from one of his former pen pals during this year's Fourth of July bake-off. A young man in an Air Force uniform approached Tripp, who was volunteering, and Tripp realized to his delight that it was Brian Mackenzie, his pen pal from 1997, with whom he's kept in touch.

"I'm so glad the program has continued on," Margaret Tripp said.