'Then And Now': Heartwarming Pen Pal Program Connects Bartlesville Senior Citizens With Students

A heartwarming program in Bartlesville has found a way to connect senior citizens with middle school students. They become pen pals and find they have a lot more in common than they knew. 

It’s called the ‘Then and Now’ project. 

Faythe Shafferluck is in 7th grade and she says she thought the assignment would be hard because she is not the best writer, but it eventually became something that was easy and fun.   

"It was actually interesting. There was stuff that we had in common and stuff that we also didn't have in common," Shafferluck said.  

Shafferluck said being able to learn things from her two pen pals and their generation is what made the whole thing such a great learning opportunity. 

It is the first time the residents at Bartlesville Senior Citizens Apartments and students at Central Middle school got to participate in something like this.  

"They became more invested in it because it wasn't just me reading it and assigning them a grade and handing it back and redoing," Davis said.  

The pen pals wrote letters for about five weeks and had to remain anonymous throughout the project, but everyone believes they all found a connection. 

Molly Larson is one of the residents and thinks it is wonderful they are communicating with young people, and she enjoyed writing to her pen pal.     

"She sent me a pretty long letter and I wrote a very long response because there were so many things I wanted to say," Larson said.  

Molly said it makes senior citizens feel like they are an important part of the community. 

"She made me feel as though she really, really connected with me and I feel that if I met her on the street, I'd just love to meet her," Larson said.

It has been so popular between both the residents and the students say plan to continue being pen pals.