In the KHS orchestras, students play difficult music, travel around the country to participate in contests and rehearse each day at school. But since last year, orchestra students also write letters. In order to keep fourth and fifth grade musicians in the program, each high school orchestra member is assigned a fourth grader to be pen pals with through the school year.

“We wanted a program to bring more of a connection between the high school and elementary school orchestras,” Patrick Jackson, symphonic orchestra teacher, said. “We want to know the elementary school kids as young musicians.”

One current fifth grade cellist was pen pals with a high school student during the year she was in fourth grade.

“When I got the letter I felt excited because a high schooler took time to write me,” the cellist said. “It was a lot of fun because I got to talk to someone who was way older than me.”

High school students begin the exchange by writing letters to their pen pals and mailing the letters to the elementary students’ houses. The letters describe how high school orchestra works. They explain why remaining in the program is worth it. For example, the high school orchestra students get to travel to places like Chicago, Atlanta and even New York City to participate in contests. The letters also invite the elementary school students to the high school’s winter concert and encourage them to sign up for orchestra for their fifth grade year.

“I had a fourth grader come up to me after the concert. She gave me a huge thumbs up,” Jackson said. “It’s cool to show [the elementary orchestra students] how they’ll play once they’re in high school.”

Michelle Dodson, sophomore and symphonic orchestra cellist, has exchanged letters with her elementary pen pal throughout the year. She thinks it’s fun to have a pen pal because she gets to encourage the students to play well and keep going in the program.

“I think it’s really cute because they use their big language and try to act all mature for us,” Dodson said. “They share not just music, but my pen pal shared her family and her hair color and then she talked about how she loved the violin, and what song she’s on, so it’s really good communication. It’s really good to help them and encourage them to keep going. And they seem to like it.”

Jackson is positive that the pen pal program is working. He said this year, more fourth graders continued to fifth grade orchestra than in past years. After discussing the pen pal program with parents of orchestra students at a Kirkwood Orchestra Parent Association (KOPA) meeting, he looks forward to continuing this program in the following years.

“It’s going to be interesting when the current fifth grade class [the first grade level to receive letters] are freshmen, and they will turn around and write letters to fourth graders and remember the first letter they ever got,” Jackson said. “I know it’s a really great thing we’re doing.”