LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell Athletics has capped off another successful year of its Lowell Public Schools Pen Pal Program, hosting its third annual Pen Pal Playday at Costello Athletic Center on Monday, April 22.
Throughout the year, River Hawk student-athletes have exchanged letters with students from four local elementary schools. With 110 River Hawks and over 200 school children, this marked the largest Pen Pal Playday yet. At the event, the River Hawk student-athletes and their pen pals got the chance to play games together, color and just talk in person for the first time.
"We've grown exponentially over the last three years," explained program coordinator and UMass Lowell athletic academic coordinator Sima Suon. "We started out with one classroom and have grown to five classrooms at four different schools in our community, so it's been amazing to see the growth and the excitement about it. It's important for our student-athletes to give back to the local community because they serve as role models to these kids. They've spent the entire year building a relationship and building a connection with them through their letters. And for everyone to finally meet the person behind the pen and paper is really cool for both sides."
Rebecca Gonzales, a second-grade teacher at Lowell Community Charter Public School, explains that the program has helped her students improve academically, but in a really fun, exciting and social way.
"Our students were super excited as soon as they heard about the program. I noticed their writing skills improved after we started the program, just their ability to ask and answer questions and stay on the topic," Gonzales stated. "They were always looking forward to when they would be getting their next letter and just knowing that eventually we would come and do this play date is something that they looked forward to all year long."
Sarah Pease and Janelle Routenberg, third-grade teachers at the Pine Arts School, also chimed in about how much their students learned from being part of the program that they may not have had the chance to without their pen pal.
"They've learned a lot about college life that they wouldn't necessarily know about at eight or nine years old. They asked the kids about dorm life and what they're studying, and they're learning a lot about college in general, which is really great," said Pease.
"Then there's the letter writing," added Routenberg. "We've had this opportunity to teach them about letter writing that's not in our curriculum. We've taught them how to format letters, how to do a greeting and how to write out an envelope. Those are just some of the things that they learned through this process that they've never experienced before."
While the school children enjoyed the companionship and learned a lot throughout the year, it is clear that the River Hawk student-athletes did as well.
"This is my third time doing the Pen Pal Playday and it's one of my favorite days of the year, along with almost every other student-athlete in this building," said senior Calliste Brookshire of the women's soccer team. "Having the students come in and really connect after a whole year of writing with them, you can see how passionate they are to learn from us as athletes and students, so we just love to watch them grow up. It's so heartwarming and we love doing it."
Willem Eisl of the men's cross country and track & field program echoed Brookshire's sentiments about the joy that comes with seeing the growth in their pen pals.
"At this age, they're starting to read, write and figure out how to express themselves, so it's really cool to see my student's writing get longer and more in depth," commented Eisl. "And I think part of it too is, the more comfortable they get with you the more stories you get, and then being able to meet them in person is just really fun."
