“If I could write a letter to me

And send it back in time to myself at 17.”

“Letter To Me” — Brad Paisley (2007)

When Lynne Boissin returned to William Penn Elementary School in 2005, it was like a step back in time.

A full-time teacher for the first time, she noted that the school in the Elizabeth Forward district still had the family atmosphere she remembered as a child growing up in Forward.

Others things had a different perspective.

“Everything looks smaller now … the stage really isn't that high,” Boissin said with a laugh.

Likewise, beginning with that first class, the fourth grade teacher was looking for a letter-writing assignment and came up with an idea that would allow students to look back fondly on their elementary school days years later.

That's how she created “letter to me.”

Beginning with that first class, Boissin has instructed her students to write a letter to themselves. They must identify such things as their best friends, pets, favorite food and future education plans. The students address envelopes and place the letters inside.

Boissin stores the letters in a file cabinet until the students graduate, when the letters are mailed to their homes.

“I was trying to figure with my first class something to send to them when they graduated,” Boissin said. “The ultimate goal was for the students to learn how to write a friendly letter.”

When Boissin makes the assignment, the students “kind of look at me,” she said. But they soon grow to like it.

The students must write their letters in complete sentences as a part of the grammar lesson.

One of the responses from her 2007 fourth grade class, which just graduated, came as a surprise to Boissin.

“I asked them to write down the price of gas — I thought it would be real high by now,” said Boissin, noting that the 2007 price was more than $3 a gallon.

This was the second year that one of her elementary classes graduated. Boissin has heard from parents and students after they receive the letters, and the feedback is mostly positive.

Some students remember the letters; others don't.

“My first-year group, two girls e-mailed me in 10th grade asking if I still had the letters,” Boissin said.

Receiving the letters gives students a chance for nostalgia from their younger days and to realize that their elementary teachers still remember them.

“One girl e-mailed me she didn't remember writing the letter,” Boissin said. “The advice she gave herself was what clothes to wear in future. Her answers made her laugh.”

Boissin keeps the letters in a file cabinet in her classroom. Toward the end of the school year, she sneaks them out and reads them.

With the help of the high school office, Boissin keeps track of students who move away.

A Forward resident, Boissin graduated from Elizabeth Forward High School in 1990 and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Point Park College.

Boissin worked as a writer for the South Hills Record for a few years. But after being exposed to the Newspapers in Education program, where papers are distributed in classrooms to encourage reading, Boissin decided to switch careers.

She went back to school, earning a master's in elementary education at California University of Pennsylvania.

Students have told Boissin they will keep the letters forever.

In an example of life imitating art, country singer Brad Paisley recorded a song in 2007 titled “Letter to Me.” Paisley's adult persona in the song gives his teenage self advice for the future.

Like the song, but in fast forward not reverse, the students reacquaint themselves with how their past selves perceived their future.

“I've heard of the song, but I never connected it,” Boissin said.

Chris Buckley is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-684-2642 or cbuckley@tribweb.com.

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