Club spotlight: Letters of Youth Association

A pen pal organization for the youth

LOYA+club+photo

Tess Leong

LOYA club photo

Letters of Youth Association club at Oak Park High School is a pen pal exchange program with the students at the elementary schools of Oak Park Unified School District. 

The president of the club, junior Tess Leong, wanted her club to be one of a kind. Additionally, she wanted to build a connection with the elementary school kids.

“I really wanted to have a club that was original and not like any other,” Leong said. “I remember when I was in elementary school, I would always be talking to the older kids, especially in high school, and I thought, why not just a pen pal exchange program?” 

Leong explained how the club works and how they communicate with the students.

“We hand write letters to every single student in class, and we send it to them and they respond back to us,” Leong said. “I, as the president, along with my brother who is also co-president, help exchange these letters between the high schoolers and the elementary schools.” 

After writing the letters, they have a system of sending them to the elementary schools.

“We have some ambassadors for our club and each ambassador specializes in one specific elementary school in the district,” Leong said. “We contact the teachers and mail the letters through the Oak Park Unified District Office.”

By writing letters to youth, LOYA’s mission is to inspire them to keep going as they are still growing up.

“Our goal is to just spread as much positivity as we can and encourage them to keep going because when you are young you have so much to do and so much happiness in life,” Leong said. 

The main idea of LOYA is not only to benefit students but to help spread positivity for the youth as well. To learn more about this club, email [email protected] or visit their club held at room H-06.