Pen Pals

For the first six weeks of the semester, students corresponded with assigned pen pals from the other university exclusively through handwritten letters and telegrams. During the seventh week of the project, Virginia Tech students went to Radford University to meet their pen pals and take part in a joint rehearsal.  

Note: Students were instructed to refrain from looking up their pen pal on social media until they had met in person.

“They [The letters ] made me think more in-depth about the course materials too because it’s one thing to just read something, but it’s another thing to talk about the material with someone. It made the content stick better in my mind.”

“I loved the pen pal exercise. I think it just adds a really sweet touch to the class of building that excitement to not only meet you pen pal, but also someone you’ll be collaborating and performing with as well. It's also just nice to get to know someone through a medium that isn’t a screen before you meet them.”

“…writing letters always gave me something to look forward to each class period. Definitely helped to get me motivated at 9:00 am…”