Pen-pal connection filling hearts from Missoula to Riverside

It's a mini dose of Christmas the day the letters arrive, bundled together, ready to be distributed, handed out to eager, wide-eyed recipients who don't know what might be in store, what their pen pal from more than a thousand miles away has to say this time around, what they might include.

"It's awesome and so fun. They draw little pictures or they might give you a bracelet they hand-crafted themselves. Makes you feel a little more full inside."

You might think it's a more one-sided relationship, this pen-pal program between the Montana soccer team and a fifth-grade classroom at Terrace Elementary, a Title I school in Riverside, California, the Grizzlies doing their perfunctory duty, the fifth-graders the ones who get the benefit, the bonus holiday.

But that quote up there? That came from Charley Boone, who lights up when talking about receiving letters from Kevin last year, his younger brother Bryan this year, like she does talking about winning Big Sky Conference championships. They are both the best, making a player feel full in their own way.

The Montana locker room tends to melt when Maddie Ditta walks in with the latest letters – To Jen, from Cain; To Riley O, from Benjamin; To Bayliss, from Jose; To Skye, from Abraham; To Ava, from Adam – Ditta playing Santa Claus, delivering gifts that bring joy and happiness.

"Being able to impact a life in even the smallest of ways is really cool," says Jen Estes. "All of us love seeing young players and fans at our games. That we get paired one-on-one with these students is a really cool opportunity to kind of extend that and form a relationship with someone outside Montana."

Soon, the reply letters are heading the other way, being handed out in the classroom by Alana Ditta, Maddie's mom, all hand-written, full of color, full of stories of what it's like to be a Grizzly, full of hope and inspiration for a classroom in a school that largely serves families who are near the poverty level.

"It's like they're celebrities in my kids' eyes," says Ditta of the Grizzlies, "like they are professional athletes. They speak college into them, speak friendship. My kids will ask advice, ask what they like to do in their free time. My kids really try to get to know them.

"On top of soccer and school, (the Montana players) are investing in my little fifth-graders and putting a dream in their hearts." That dream being higher education. It could involve a sport but doesn't have to. That's icing when the cake, in this case, will do just fine on its own.

That a classroom at Terrace Elementary has adopted a college is not unique. They all do, from kindergarten through fifth grade, whether it's a school in Southern California, whether it's Duke, whether it's Washington State. It's the overarching message that is most important.

"The kids constantly see university flags across the campus and we have college walls in the classroom," says Francisco Gonzalez, the school's principal. "We have conversations in the classroom, just talking about college. We normalize it for them."

But there is nothing quite like Ditta's classroom, a placard reminding everyone that "You're In Griz Country," in case the Griz flag, the hanging Montana Grizzlies blanket and the stickers and pennants and pom-poms and various posters didn't get the point across.

"The school has been very gracious to help me decorate the classroom. You'd think my classroom was in the state of Montana," says Ditta. "Every classroom has stuff. Mine is probably over the top because the university has given me so much."

It's part of the plan, this normalizing of college as an attainable goal that Gonzalez speaks about, in a school where that might be anything but normal or expected, where the focus and the struggle can be to get through today, this week, this month, not eyeing the years-from-now future.

"We speak college into our students," says Ditta. "These kids are coming from low-economic families. We try to speak the importance of education and having that be a gateway to a better future, the ticket to a better life.

"Maybe they'll be the first college graduate in their family, so I'm always saying, you can do this, work hard, get good grades. Just trying to put that belief in their heart."

But what if there was something relatable, real, tangible that could help them picture a bridge over that gap, give them even more inspiration than a poster on a wall might do? You're in Griz Country? What if you knew a Grizzly? And what if they sent you a letter and you sent one back? How cool would that be?

"It gets the kids excited," says Gonzalez. "I don't know of any other classroom here that has that type of direct connection. Your athletes over there, they're like movie stars to these kids."

That's why he'll gladly look the other way on those days the Grizzlies play during school hours, Ditta setting up a big-screen television in front of the classroom. Pencils down. It's game time! Chaos erupting from time to time. GOAL MONTANA!

"That's been fun," she says. "As soon as their girl comes in, they are just over the moon. That's my pen pal!" Just imagine the scene when someone scores. "We're all high-fiving that person like they scored because it's their player. It's pretty cool.

"I've had classes when we haven't done something like this. This just puts it at a deeper level. It becomes more personal. They know someone. When the team is on the road, we'll Facetime and pass the phone around. They feel connected, like they are part of the team."

It's something Gonzalez never had, his parents in Mexico in the 70s, the peso plummeting overnight, 1,000 becoming 100 just like that. So, they emigrated to the U.S., his mom stressing education, education, education as the best path forward. Do not let anything get in the way.

"When I was in school, nobody talked to me about college or university except for my mom. I don't think the expectation was there from my schools. My mom didn't know what that looked like here in the U.S., but she knew about it enough," says Gonzalez, who grew up in the border town of San Ysidro.

"When I went from San Ysidro to San Diego State, it was maybe 30 miles, but I had never been that far away from home. It was a completely different world. I can probably count on one hand the number of my friends from that era who made it through college. I just knew I wanted to do something better."

He's come to know what to expect at those times when Maddie Ditta arrives back home, at Thanksgiving, at Christmas, at Spring Break, when she stops by the school to hand-deliver the latest batch of letters, for her mom's students to get to see one of their Grizzlies in the flesh.

"As soon as I walk in, they start yelling. Maddie! Maddie! It's adorable," she says. "I get the first-hand view of going back and seeing these kids and how excited they are to get these letters."

OMG DO YOU KNOW SKYE? DO YOU KNOW KAYLA? DO YOU KNOW AVA, CHLOE, MIA? YOU DO!? GIVE HER A HUG FOR ME!

"Most of them would be the first in their family to go to college," Ditta adds. "It's awesome that we can speak life into them, that you can achieve more than you think you can. Just because you're (here) doesn't mean you can't achieve great things."

It's a long-term investment, the Grizzlies giving of themselves today in the hope that years from now the kids who are passing through Ditta's classroom, who get those letters, who develop those relationships, might be inspired to give it their own shot, do something that maybe no one ever expected of them.

"The investment is so amazing," says Ditta, who hopes the Terrace-Grizzly connection continues beyond her daughter's time at Montana. "It's Christmas in my classroom every time I come back with letters. It's just magic. They are so excited. It's something I don't ever want to end."

It's Grizzlies as a gateway, this idea that anyone can take control of their future no matter their background, can go to college, any college, but if it's that one 1,000 miles away, how great would that be? "I tell them, if they go to Montana, I will come to your graduation. I would be so proud," says Ditta.

It's all part of the plan at Terrace Elementary, intentional, college as real, possible for anyone. Yes, even you, you and you. All of you. Ditta's classroom just does it a little bit differently. It starts where every other classroom does, then adds the heart and all the feels. And dreams begin to emerge.

Assist: Grizzlies, pen pals extraordinaire, both sides coming away with full hearts, both better for the experience, a bit of time given, 100 times as much received in return.

"I wish I had that as a kid," says Gonzalez. "I can't imagine what that would be like, just to know that it's out there and it's attainable."

And that's the pen-pal relationship at its best, real person to real person. Yes, I'm a soccer player at Montana, getting my education somewhere that might seem far, far away, but read what I'm writing to you. See that I'm no different than you are. If I can do it, you, too, can do it. Never give up!

"It's almost like two different worlds, but it shouldn't be, right? That's what we hope to get the students to understand," says Gonzalez. "It's not a different world. This is your world, this is our world. It's there for you."

University of Montana Athletics

Pen-pal connection filling hearts from Missoula to Riverside

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