More than 100 3rd-grade students from three Windsor CSD elementary schools spent Friday at Binghamton University meeting their pen pals – members of several sororities at Binghamton.
The students from Weeks, Bell, and Palmer Elementary schools have spent the school year writing their pen pals about college life. On Friday, they got to learn first-hand how their pen pals live and study.
After months of writing to each other, 3rd grader Evie Leonard finally got to meet her pen pal, Sarah Hoyt.
“I told her that my mom is in a band. I learned that she’s Irish,” said Leonard.
“It’s really exciting. We talked about her favorite movies, TV shows, Taylor Swift, her pets, siblings, and favorite subjects at school. The basics,” said Hoyt. “I really like (this program). I think it’s an amazing thing.”
The program began during the 2017-18 school year when students from Bell Elementary wrote to Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority members. Among the topics they corresponded about were siblings, favorite colors, favorite subjects, and books. The students also got a first-hand look at college life when they toured campus.
Some version of the program continued through the pandemic, with the in-person visit by Windsor 3rd graders to their Binghamton University pen pals resuming in 2022. The pen pal program is coordinated through Binghamton University’s Center for Civic Engagement's Youth Initiative program.
“I think it’s an awesome connection to give the students an opportunity to meet with a pen pal. It’s really neat to get them to go back to the old-fashioned letter writing. It’s a less formal way to have them write,” said Bell Elementary 3rd grade teacher Stephanie Pietrosanti. “The kids are always making connections. The last month they’d say, ‘I can’t wait to meet my pen pal. My pen pal has three dogs.’”
“It’s a good opp to see what life after school is like. They were all like, ‘I’m coming here for college,’” said 3rd-grade teacher Troy Aikey.
More than 100 sorority members at Binghamton partnered with the Windsor Central School District to correspond with the elementary students. The Binghamton University students are from the following sororities: Kappa Kappa Gamma, Sigma Delta Tau, Zeta Tau Alpha, Phi Mu, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Delta Phi Epsilon, and Phi Sigma Sigma.