For the 2023-2024 school year, the Associated Student Body has approved 29 new clubs. The Accolade’s cub reporters from the beginning journalism class will report on each new group in alphabetical order. For the previous ones that have already been posted, be sure to go to the Feature section.

New Jersey, New York and Northern California.

Those are among the places where junior Kailyn Lee has developed digital, long-distance friendships with other girls similar to her age since she was 11 years old.

“I loved meeting new people and forming amazing friendships,” she said. “I got more comfortable penpalling and finding pen pals over time as I gained confidence through experience.”

Lee said she started her friendship connections as a middle school student in seventh grade when a friend sent her a “penpal with me” video on YouTube.

“I’ve had a penpalling account on Instagram for about five years now, so I’ve expanded my connections a lot over the years with people who are passionate about the hobby,” she said. “Through penpals and other mutually connected people in the online penpalling community, I’ve found so many people who are safe to penpal with.” 

Lee’s friend, junior Isabelle Lee, joined her as a co-president of the club. Despite never penpalling before, Isabelle Lee became enthusiastic about it after Kailyn Lee introduced her to it. 

“I’ve been an artistic person all of my life, and the fact that any flat art could be mailed for penpalling made the art form feel a little bit less intimidating,” Isabelle Lee said.

Kailyn Lee said she submitted her proposal to establish a Penpal Club on campus to the Associated Student Body on Monday, Oct. 9, and got it approved on Thursday, Oct. 24.

Currently, both presidents are too busy because of personal circumstances to quickly set any club members with a penpal. Though they do not have a specific date, they hope that they will be able to figure things out before the 2023-2024 school year ends. 

Once the co-presidents are ready to make those penpal connections with their members, those interested in finding a friend from outside of California can fill out a Google Form that contains questions asking members about their personal interests and style of writing. Writers will have the basic information of each other, such as their partner’s address of residence and age.

The most important criteria when setting people up with penpals will be compatibility – similar ages, interests, etc. In terms of gender, the club currently only has female members and only has connections to female penpals but hopes to recruit a more diverse population. 

Using this information, Kailyn Lee said that through her past connections and Instagram, she can set the members up with someone with similar interests. While searching for potential penpals, the co-presidents monitor an individual’s posts and activities before reaching out to ensure the person is not a predator of minors.

Currently, there are no restrictions to how many penpals each member can have, but because the majority of the members are inexperienced, just one penpal is recommended.

The group has held four meetings, including a joint gathering with the Art Club on Friday, Dec. 15. The Art Club members provided tips to those in Kailyn Lee and Isabelle Lee’s club on ways to decorate future letters to their penpals.

Junior Ryan Nixon found out about this new group through her art teacher and hopes to find a penpal from out of the state of California.

“The most fun part is that it’s art without any sort of pressure, so we’re just able to create a community,” she said. “In this world where we focus so hard on fitting in, [penpalling] is fascinating and special.”

Penpal Club meets every other Wednesday during lunch in Room 97. The club posts information about its activities on its Instagram account @shhspenpals. For more information contact Isabelle Lee at [email protected] or Kailyn Lee at [email protected].