The University of Iowa’s Pen Pal Project welcomed a familiar face as the program’s newest coordinator.

Karla Madrigal was hired in September as an academic coach for the Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence. She also took on the coordinator position for the Pen Pal Project, an almost 30-year-old partnership between the UI and West Liberty Elementary’s fourth-grade students.

UI students who join the program receive pen pals from the elementary school, and the pairs write each other letters from late October until April. In April, the fourth-grade students come to campus to meet their pen pals in person.

When Madrigal told her parents about her new position as coordinator of the Pen Pal Project, they told her the program sounded very familiar.

“When I mentioned to my parents that I was coordinating the Pen Pal Project, they told me that they remembered me being really excited when I got a letter telling me that I was going to meet a University of Iowa student someday,” Madrigal said.

Madrigal said meeting someone who was in college at that age impacted her, as she later became a first-generation college student. The goal for this year’s program is to make sure all 107 fourth-grade students at West Liberty receive their own pen pal instead of sharing one with a group of students, Madrigal said.

“For the program itself, I want it to be something that continues to get the attention it deserves,” Madrigal said.

Madrigal said she hopes the center can expand the program beyond just West Liberty Elementary in the future.

Another new face to the program is fourth-year UI student Makenzie Homan. Homan, who participated in the program last year, said she enjoyed it so much that she reached out to Madrigal this year to take on a leadership position as a student assistant.

Homan assists Madrigal with whatever she may need throughout the program. Homan said this position did not exist in years past, but if expansion occurs in the future, her position will become necessary.

RELATED: Iowa City Community School District students, teachers to be involved with new prairie initiatives

Homan said she is excited to receive a new pen pal this year because the letters she received last year made her day.

“I think my favorite part of it is just seeing the impact that you’re making on the children just because you’re inspiring them to want to go to college and do things like what you’re doing and what you write about in your letters that you’re involved in,” Homan said.

West Liberty Elementary fourth grade teacher Kristen Evans said the program encourages students to attend college, improves their writing skills, and shows them the world outside of West Liberty.

“I think for one, especially in West Liberty, the demographic that we work with, I think many of these kids may not be exposed to leaving West Liberty or getting that exposure to college students or people outside of their town or their district,” Evans said. “So, I think that’s a really big part.”

Evans said her class is excited to visit the UI campus in April, especially after COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

“As a teacher, I’m looking forward to seeing how their writing progresses, but that’s just because I teach writing,” Evans said. “But I can say they’re probably a little more on the side of, ‘We got to go meet our people.’ They look forward to that.”