For STEM Professionals

Pen Pal Program

Overview

We encourage STEM professionals of all kinds to get involved with Letters to a Pre-Scientist! STEM professionals send and receive letters throughout a school year with a curious student. Pairs build a meaningful relationship by discussing STEM career pathways, higher education journeys, and how they’ve each overcome obstacles. Pen pals plant seeds that help students discover possibilities in STEM.

Recruitment of new STEM pen pals is open! Register to become a pen pal for the 2024-25 school year now!

Become a pen pal!

Testimonials

“This is my favorite outreach program by far. Y'all handled Covid with grace and made this experience amazing (per usual). :)”
“My pen pal had a lot of questions and really challenged me to explain my work in new, inventive ways. She was always very thoughtful and motivating and seemed to really care about my interests.”
“My pen pal changed the way I view my own work, so that I am making more connections to topics outside my field and thinking more broadly.”
“She was so excited to write back and forth with me, and each time I received a letter from my pen pal it gave me a spark of joy in my day and motivation to keep up with my work!”
“My pen pal inspired me to be more transparent about struggles in STEM. Multiple times, my pen pal stated that they felt more comfortable thinking about college and future knowing that they can succeed even if they fail an exam or even a class.”
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Can I participate?

We define STEM professional broadly. The main requirement is that you are enthusiastic about communicating with students, who we call pre-scientists!

We welcome volunteers from all different fields related to science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine and at many stages of their careers. This includes undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, professors, industry professionals, government employees, educators, healthcare professionals, engineers, and more. People from all over the world are encouraged to participate. Volunteers must be 18 or older to participate.

What’s the timeline and commitment?

We estimate this volunteer opportunity requires a commitment of approximately 10 hours spread out in chunks of 2 hours between August 2024 and May 2025.

During the summer, STEM professionals register to become a penpal for the upcoming school year. Volunteers then complete a 1-2 hour asynchronous online training to familiarize themselves with letter writing resources and best practices.

Approximately every other month, STEM pen pals receive a letter from their pen pal, write a reply, and mail it to the student’s school.

STEM pen pals commit to send their letters by certain dates throughout the year because teachers wait until they have a letter for every student before students open their letters together during a letter opening party. Matched pen pals who do not meet the deadlines will be dropped from the program and another STEM professional from the waiting list will be assigned to their student.

How else can I support?

If you have financial resources to share, consider making a donation. A contribution of $6/mo supports one student’s participation in the yearlong pen pal program.

Or, get your company or institution involved as a partner. Email Lucy, LPS CEO, at Lucy.Madden@prescientist.org to start a conversation.

How else can I support?

If you have financial resources to share, consider making a donation. A contribution of $6/mo supports one student’s participation in the yearlong pen pal program.

Or, get your company or institution involved as a partner. Email Lucy, LPS CEO, at Lucy.Madden@prescientist.org to start a conversation.

Become a pen pal today!

Register now for 2024-25