“Your frand T_ _ _ _ _”—– NEHS and Centerville elementary make pen pal friends: 3/6/20
Valerie Ducos enjoys reading her pen pal Kayla’s letters.
March 6, 2020
¨I like your drolings have a osom Valentins!” (¨I like your drawings, have an awesome Valentine Day!¨)
On March 4, NEHS (National English Honor Society) members received their fourth (of five) letter from their elementary school student pen pals.
These children attend first grade at Centerville Elementary School in Urbana. Their teacher, Mrs. Beverly Lloyd (band teacher Mr. Kevin Lloyd’s wife) has bee partnering with NEHS for almost a decade.
For the past month and a half, the honor society members have been writing letters to their six-year-old pen pals about topics ranging from favorite activities to Valentine’s Day letters.
Junior Sammie Hoefs said “The connections you can make are awesome. You learn and grow from them even if you think you aren’t.” Hoefs believes that it’s important to build that bond and connection in order for kids to know that they have a mentor. “I’m excited to meet him. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit, and meeting him will remind me of my younger self.”
Letter written by Maya Apau to her pen pal Thiago.
“Dear Maya, My name is T_ _ _ I am six years old!” Pen pal T_ _ _ continued on numerous letters asking questions about family, favorite things, and hobbies. T_ _ _never forgets to emphasize his love for the pictures that his pen pal draws on his letters for him to color in and always signs “Your frand, T_ _ _.” (“Your friend, T_ _ _ ”)
The purpose of these pen pal letters are not only to teach and understand how to write letters but to build relationships through the practice of writing from all different ages, cultures, races, and interests.
Junior Tabitha Moses has a pen pal named A_ _ _. “A cute thing that I’ve noticed is, in the first letter I wrote her, I ended it with “this letter is getting too long.” And now, in every letter, she writes that as well.”
Moses emphasized the importance of hearing from a younger generation’s perspective.
Chapter members will continue writing letters back and forth with their pen pals. On March 19 the chapter members will go on a field trip to meet their pen pals face-to-face for the first time.
