When I was a sophomore in high school, Saratoga High School’s Neuroscience Club, which I had previously founded, was up and running and rapidly growing. At the same time, I was also volunteering at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) for two hours every weekend. My supervisor at the VA and I came up with the idea of starting a pen pal program between the veterans at the VA and the members of Neuroscience Club.
When I presented the idea to my fellow club officers and eventually the club members, everyone was extremely enthusiastic about the idea and excited to talk to and learn about the veterans. So, I began the Pen Pal program. I created two week cycles of exchanging letters between the Neuroscience Club members and the veterans. During Neuroscience Club meetings, members would write letters to their assigned veterans. Then, I would collect the letters and bring them to my volunteering that weekend. I would drop the letters off to the respective veterans and give the veterans one week to respond to their letters. Also, during my volunteering, I would help many of the veterans write out their thoughts and responses. The next weekend when I came into volunteering I would collect the veterans’ letters and bring them to my Neuroscience Club meeting that week. We continued these cycles of exchanging letters for about 5 months.
Overall, the program was extremely successful, and the Neuroscience Club members greatly enjoyed giving back to the veterans and helping them. The Pen Pal Program also greatly helped the veterans. Many veterans were able to work on their fine motor control as they wrote the Pen Pal letters themselves. Other veterans appreciated being able to hear the lives and interests of high school students that were experiencing a very different high school journey than many of the veterans did. Mostly all the veterans loved to tell stories from throughout their life through their letters and correspond with individuals that they had never met before. Throughout those months, the Pen Pal program made a significant change in the demeanor of most veterans. As soon as I arrived at their rooms, letters in hand, the veterans would immediately light up and become excited at that week’s letter. Overall, the Pen Pal program that I established between Saratoga High School Neuroscience Club and the US Department of Veterans Affairs had many positive effects on both groups of individuals involved.