120 3rd grade students from Windsor CSDs three elementary schools spent Wednesday at Binghamton University meeting their pen pals – members of several sororities and two fraternities at Binghamton.
The students from Weeks, Bell, and Palmer Elementary schools have spent the school year writing their pen pals about college life. On Wednesday, they got to meet their college mentors in person while taking a tour of campus, enjoying games, crafts, and lunch.
“We started out getting to know each other more by asking, ‘What’s your favorite color?”, then actual questions – what’s your favorite animal, how many siblings do you have?” said Cole Macumber, a 3rd grader in Mrs. Briga’s class.
“It was really fun. I’ve never had a pen pal before. Ultimately, I was excited to finally meet in person and it was nice to hear about Binghamton community,” said Aniya Matthews, a senior at Binghamton University and member of Delta Phi Epsilon. “It was good to put a face to the name and see him.”
So, after touring the university and hearing first-hand about life as a college student, what is Macomber looking forward to most in college?
“The bowling alley,” he said, citing a highlight of the tour.
His mentor had better advice.
“There’s so many majors so you’ll be able to find something,” said Matthews.
Binghamton University junior Victoria Liffey, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, has participated in the program for two years.
“It’s about reaching out to the greater Binghamton community, and I thought this was a great way to have that outreach and build a relationship with a student. I remember having a pen pal in elementary school and it was the highlight of my year,” said Liffey.
This year, she was pen pals with 3rd grader Sebastian Carle.
“We wrote about what we want to be when we grow up. I want to be in the FBI. We’re both Yankees fans. He likes the Bills and I like the Jets,” said Liffey.
The two also wrote about their favorite subjects.
“Math, recess, and lunch, those are my favorite in the world,” said Carle.
Carle wants to be either an art teacher or video game maker and plans on going to college. He’s already had a positive first experience meeting Liffey.
“It was fun. She’s very nice and cool. Definitely cool,” said Carle.
The program began during the 2017-18 school year when students from Bell Elementary wrote to members of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. Some version of the program continued through the pandemic, but the in-person visit by Windsor 3rd graders to their Binghamton University pen pals resumed last year.
The pen pal program is coordinated through Binghamton University’s Center for Civic Engagement's Youth Initiative program.
This year, a total of 180 writers at Binghamton partnered with the Windsor Central School District to correspond with the elementary students.