118 3rd grade students from three Windsor CSD elementary schools spent Wednesday 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 from the Panhellenic Council about college life. When they finally met, they spent their time talking about college and having fun.
“A bit of both. We want them to see what it’s like to be on a campus and make them more interested in going to a college but I know so many girls were so excited to meet their pen pals and have fun, watch a movie and see what’s going on in their school,” said Nicolette Cavallaro of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.
“We kind of learned where places are. They let us go in for a bit. we went into the library. They showed us the bowling alley,” said Weeks Elementary 3rd grader Gilmore Knapp.
The pen pal program began during the 2017-18 school year when students from Bell Elementary wrote to members of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. 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.
“When I was that age, I had a pen pal as well and it was great to have a role model inspire me to go to college and talk about growing up. I know there are a lot of kids who don’t have that relationship with someone older and it’s great to be that resource for them,” said Savannah Holmes of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.
Weeks 3rd grader Hadley Hoover wrote to her pen pal about life at Binghamton University.
“She said that there’s amazing food and there’s a movie room. I also liked the library and I liked the tour, said Hoover. “I got to see the mascot.”
Some version of this program continued through the pandemic, but this will be the first in-person visit by Windsor 3rd graders to their Binghamton University pen pals since 2019. The pen pal program is coordinated through Binghamton University’s Center for Civic Engagement's Youth Initiative program.
This year, a total of 211 female writers at Binghamton partnered with the Windsor Central School District to correspond with the elementary students.
If nothing else, the field trip has at least one student hoping he’s a future Bearcat.
“Yes, I definitely want to go here,” said Knapp.