Dear Rae, I’m an only child, too

Is it really school work if it’s fun?

If you asked the fourth-graders at Washington Elementary and St. Mary’s School in Owatonna, the answer might be a resounding “no.”

They were part of a project that lasted the whole school year, which saw them all paired with a person age 55 or older. They exchanged letters – four each – to get to know each other, then met in person last week for a celebration of new friendships.

Sponsored by Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota Active Aging Program in partnership with AmeriCorps Seniors’ Retired Senior Volunteer Program, the focus was intergenerational sharing.

Kerri Kennedy works for Catholic Charities, and facilitated this year’s correspondence.

“We value all generations, and we believe that deep, integrated communities strengthen experiences, they strengthen the community – and we just have so much to learn from one another,” she said.

There were 115 students this year who all had a senior pen pal.

Judy Weinke has been involved since the program started in the 2022-23 school year, with a new crop of fourth-graders to start each year.

“I enjoy hearing from the young people,” she said. “It’s refreshing, and I miss that. At my age, if you live in a neighborhood where everybody is old – it’s just fun to be a pen pal and find out what they like.”

Her partner was Owen Sorensen, who taught her about wrestling.

“Look at that,” Weinke said, pointing to Owen’s sweatshirt. “He was a champion.”

The two talked about their favorite songs and favorite foods at the May 6 meet-and-greet, when the students and adults met in person for the first time. The St. Mary’s students had a short program they prepared, and gave their new friends a gift.

Owen, who said he was always excited to get a letter from Weinke, said they both love pizza and sweets. His favorite part of the program, though, was “meeting her today.”

Owen calls her “Grandma Judy,” which Weinke said is what the neighborhood kids call her; her only grandchild is studying abroad, in Wales.

The pen pals are limited to a one-page letter for each correspondence, “but I could have written three,” she said.

This was the third year Tim and Linda Rice participated in the program – and both impressed their pen pals just by living life.

Isaac Bissen, Tim’s partner, said he liked “getting to know him, telling him about my life. He played … rag tag, right? It’s kind of like football, and I like playing football, too.”

Tim Rice said he played “rag tag football in college,” and sharing those stories with Isaac is “probably keeping me young.”

The Rices’ grandson is a videographer for the Minnesota Wild; Linda’s pen pal, Reece Magana said.

“I really liked that we got to meet new people, and write letters,” he said.

It was something Sharleen Berg saw firsthand. She has been a long-term sub in fourth-grade at St. Mary’s School this year.

She watched their “excitement of connecting with letters, free of technology. They’re thinking about who they are, communicating that through writing – then getting a different perspective from someone of another generation,” Berg said.

Fourth-grader Rae Struss and her pen pal Vel Engen, though, were able to discuss a shared perspective: They are both only children, something they learned at the meet-and-greet.

When they were writing, Engen said, “she never mentioned a brother or sister, and I didn’t mention anything about that, so I said, ‘I didn’t ask you in my letters, but are you an only child? And she said, ‘yes,’ and I said, ‘I am an only child, too.’

They talked about “a lot” in their letters, Engen said. “She is good at asking questions; she asked a lot of questions, so I just answered them.

“Then I asked a few, and she would answer me, so that’s how we get to know each other. She talked about school – she likes school very much, which is good, and then she talked about travel,” Engen said.

Rae and her family go to Florida, “and I told her I also travel, but mine is wider,” Engen said, with trips to Europe and her native Philippines.

It’s her second year in the pen pal program, and Engen said she will participate again next year.

“It’s good to be part of the community, to know one person from a school – you feel young again,” she said.