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8th Grade Writing Partners |
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An Unlikely Pen Pal Experience
By: Emma Chou
Usually, our eighth grade schedule consists of tests,studies, and homework. But thenMs. Wilson, one of our school’s faculty members, started a new program foreighth graders to have an opportunity to write to college students from CalState LA. At first, we were alpretty excited about having college pen pals to write to. Ms. Wilson assigned a college pen palfor each one of us to write to for the next couple of months All together, we wrote three letters toour pen pals and they wrote three letters back to us. It was a fun and unusual learning experience for mostof us.
Afterwe had meticulously written all the letters to our pen pals, Ms. Wilson and ourteachers wanted us to have the chance to meet our pen pals whom we’ve beenwriting to for the past few months It was an arduous obstacle for our teachers to provide buses to takeeveryone in eighth grade to have a rendezvous with our pen pals at Cal State,but our teachers somehow accomplished the task. Later, when we got to the college, a college student gave usa short presentation of Cal State LA. Then the time finally arrived for us to meet our pen pals. This was our first and last time to seeour pen pals in person, so for us, we were both anxious and eager to see ourpen pals. As it turns out, our penpals were also very nervous and excited to see us too. All of us seemed curious to know howour pen pals looked like. As wetalked to our pen pals, some of them told us some very genuine things thatwould be helpful for us later on in life. For example, my pen pal told me that “IT doesn’t matter which college oruniversity you go to. All thatmatters is yourself and how dedicated you want to be in what you do.” That was perhaps one of the mostauthentic quotes that I’ve heard.
Althoughwe only had that one time to see our buddies as an entire eighth grade body,most of us seemed pretty content. Unfortunately, there were some of my classmates who weren’t able to seetheir pen pals because the college pen pals were absent. All in all, it was a wonderfulexperience for most of us. Thefield trip that came along with this pen pal writing experience was the perfectgetaway from the stressful ambiance at school and a way into the world of acollege campus.
PENPALS
By: John Xie
A Fun Experience
Eighthgrade students of Monterey Highlands School were given an opportunity to take asneak peak at the college ways of life. As of 2010, college students from Cal State University of Los Angeles(CSULA) were generous enough to give out some time to have a directcommunication with the eighth grade students. Most students were entertained to have an open communicationas part of their school class activities, Not only did it enrich the writingportion of students’ academics, but many also felt matured as they talked toeach of their assigned buddies, named PenPals. As the program progressed, eighth grade students sharedtheir personal interests with their PenPals. Many of these interests were their favorite foods, places,and TV shows. Along with that,some students were lucky to find some talents they had in common with theirPenPals, such as playing basketball. Such coincidences extended the benefits of this program even further forthe good of the students. Overall,students were enthusiastic about writing to their PenPals who had the answersto many of their questions.
A Road Paved to Success
Originally,the main purpose of the college PenPal program was to give eighth gradestudents a feel of what it’s like to be in college. Technically, there may be times when students meet theunexpected when they step into a college such as the stress. Fellow students gained knowledge toplanning college such as the minimum requirement for the Cal State Universitiesas well as the expanded explanation of the A-G courses. Along with that, eight grade studentswere most times given a recommendation for their classes and scheduling basedon their career interest. Forexample, one of the Pen Peals suggested community college during the highschool years and then attending graduate school before applying for a greatuniversity Although thereare many different plans that can route to success, the PenPals did a good jobsketching some examples for eight graders.
No Fear
Honestly,PenPals did a great job on releasing the stress of many students who feel lostabout college. Some felt thatbeing independent might’ve been too tough while others might’ve had some otherfears such as the lack of time for finishing assignments. For the students who pulled out somequestions about what they were scared of, they probably received an answer inreturn assuring them that college was a lot like a review of high school. Despite the academics, most PenPalseven expressed their joyful feeling of being in college under a list ofadvantages. This broughtconfidence and enthusiasm to the eighth graders as expected.
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