Emails from around the country have been pouring into Ashley Snider’s inbox.
Snider, an English teacher at Davie County High School, implemented a class project in February that would unknowingly garner national media attention.
“This was powerful and beyond my wildest expectations,” said Snider, describing the Senior2Senior pen pal program, which received multiple media interviews, including one with USA Today. Since then, other people across the country have reached out to learn more about the program.
Snider was inspired by a project from the previous semester, “Letters from Santa.” Her senior students created a letter-writing program to send to kids on Santa’s nice list. It was so successful that she wanted to replicate it in a different way during her spring semester.
In January, she connected with the local Davie County Senior Services, to discuss the possibility of a pen pal program between her seniors and the senior citizens in the community. Snider’s 48 students were randomly partnered with local senior citizens to write letters throughout the semester, culminating with a meet-up in May to collect the final letter in person.
“She started explaining to us the notes and how we were gonna go back in time to writing with pencil and paper, and we’re like, okay, so no emails? It’s just pencil and paper,” said Tania Arellano, a Davie County High School senior.
Snider said that with the first letter, she knew it was great. “I didn’t realize the depth and meaning and the impact until these kids started interviewing and expressing their thoughts.”
For Arellano, she connected with her pen pal, Anne, almost immediately. “We understood each other, and started to really talk to each other like we were friends,” she said. “At some point, I did not see her as an age gap. I saw a friendship. This is not my senior citizen project, this is my friend.”
It was similar for Brianna Covington and her pen pal, Allison, who Covington said shared some of her same experiences — being an oldest sibling, experiencing similar family traumas, and moving frequently during their lifetime, especially in high school.
“It was so mind blowing to me, that out of everyone I could have been paired with, and for this to be randomly paired, I got someone I can really relate to and learn a lot from,” said Covington. “Allison is great, I could tell from the letters she was writing, when I met her, it was going to be great. She’s really nice, kind, and has a good heart.”
In early May, the students and seniors met face-to-face at the senior center to exchange the fourth and final letter. There were hugs, tears, gifts, and much laughter. For many, the connections will continue.
“I’m very interested in this next chapter of her life after high school graduation,” said Allison Brown. “I’m looking forward to watching her path unfold, because she’s a very special young woman.”
“It makes me feel very, very proud to play a small part in facilitating these connections,” said Snider. “I have to give them the credit, though. There were training wheels early — here’s how you do an introductory letter, here’s what I expect. If my students had not been vulnerable enough and put the effort in, they would not have reaped the rewards they had and it would not have been as successful.”
Snider is planning for the program to continue next year at Davie County High School, and hopes the shared knowledge with teachers and organizations across the country will help this ‘old school’ communication style spread.
“It’s a win for humanities, and it’s a win for human connections, no matter our divides,” said Snider. “That is a message I love to spread.”
