Students at Southwestern Illinois College who participate in this program will receive a free pen with ink, paper and envelopes and links from this site to tutorial videos about writing cursive and/or calligraphy as well as how to think of encouraging words to write to the elderly – grandparents or elderly friends or those in nursing homes.

Students will learn the art of not just calligraphy but of writing creative encouraging words. I have found that handwritten encouraging letters have a profound impact upon the elderly and writing such letters has helped me learn to be more empathetic. Handwritten letters are especially appreciated by the older generation.

Some students have not developed or been taught good handwriting skills and by participating in this program can develop such skill. Free instruction will be provided via the YouTube links from this site and via Teams sessions with me. We will provide instruction as well as the special pens to enable this type of writing.

For paralegal students it will also be helpful to learn not only how to write cursively or calligraphy but also to read the historic documents of our country that were all handwritten such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

For students in other disciplines, these skills of handwriting encouraging letters will be helpful in several ways: good customer relations, providing encouragement especially to the older generation who find handwritten letters and notes something to be saved and re-read over and over again.

The funds for this project are provided by: Southwestern Illinois College Foundation Enhancement Grants