Sending Letters to Our CASE Students

One of the students responded, “If you hadn’t sent me an envelope and stamp with your letter, I would not have been able to reply. Thank you!” It’s these simple and kind considerations that the staff and volunteers made that allowed all students to participate in this written exchange.

When was the last time you received a good old-fashioned, handwritten letter? There’s something about seeing your name handwritten on an envelope that sparks an immediate excitement. Who could have written me? What’s it about? As an adult, it’s a welcome relief from endless advertisements, spam, and bills. As a kid, it’s exciting to see anything in the mail addressed to you.

After receiving the news in March that our (in-person) semester with CASE students was cut short, we were determined to do something to remind students that we were thinking of them during this time and that we cared. With our team of volunteers and staff, we set off write each student, across all of our sites, a personalized letter. In addition to the letter, we attached a stamped, self-addressed envelope so that students could easily respond.

We were so thrilled to see the responses that came in! We received messages of gratitude thanking us for writing, for doing CASE, and requests that we keep doing it next year. Some students gave intricately detailed summaries of what they were doing during quarantine, while others succinctly said they were doing good. Read some of our favorite quotes from their letters below.

CASE Volunteer, Brittan Botzum, reads letters that were sent from students at DuPont Hadley Middle Prep. Both staff and volunteers were overcome with emotions from the responses they received from the letters they wrote to their students. Not only had they touched the hearts of their students, but they too were impacted by the students’ heart-felt responses.

“Thank you for checking up on me and my sister, that was just what we needed. Wow, I’ve REALLY been needing this interactive kind of thing!”

“I can’t stop thinking about when we’ll go back to school and see y’all again.”

“I can’t wait to come back to CASE so we can talk face to face!”

"I miss you telling me to focus, it never helped but it’s the thought that counts.”

“I miss you every day and every day I would wish I could come to CASE!”

“I’ve enjoyed being home, I don’t miss school, but I do miss CASE.”

“I miss you helping me with my homework. I could really use your help right now! You always encouraged us to do our best.”

We love our students and miss them dearly! We yearn for the days that we can meet with our students again, face to face. For now, we are thankful for the opportunity to connect with them and remind them that we are thinking of them while we’re apart.

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Our CASE staff surprised their students at their home during the last day of CASE programming this spring. Take a look at the reactions!

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C.A.S.E. is a program of the Nashville After Zone Alliance. The Nashville After Zone Alliance is a network of coordinated after school programming for Metro’s middle-school students. NAZA is a partnership among the Nashville Public Library, MNPS, and other existing youth-serving groups. It is modeled on successful efforts in other cities and is organized around geographically-defined zones.