Looking for pen pals? You can find some here. All of the pen pals listed can be reached at the Delta Education Center, which is a teen-oriented center for school, alternative education, enrichment classes, after-school activities and programs, sports, and teen stuff.
My name is Casey Ritchet, I'm male, and you can reach me at Delta, my address is: caseyritchet@. I'm a paid peer counselor, working with kids 12-18 who have recently been adopted, placed into foster care or group home, or went through a custody battle between their parents. I went through that type of thing myself 3 years ago, when I was 16 (making me 19 now). I have 5 siblings, all brothers, and with the birth of my youngest brothers (twins), our mother lost custody of all of us. What followed was a year long trip through foster care, group homes, and classified information (searching for biological father/s). We did finally get through it, but, not without long-term effects. I am currently studying child-psychology, hopefully to be able to work with others who have the same type of problems resulting from similar issues. My hobbies include classic cars, technology, motorcycles, rock climbing, horror movies, beach volleyball, and mountain biking. Most of my time is taken up by classes, volleyball team, work, and family stuff, but in my free time I like to go on bike rides, play pool, listen to music, or watch a good movie. I'm looking for an intelligent (life-smarts preferred over any other kind of intelligence, but good conversation is a must), open-minded (one other thing I'm into is human rights), interesting (no issue-dodgers or "the weather today was..." ... you get the picture) pen pal around 16-21 years of age (but anything around that is fine). So, if you have the time and interest, send a letter.
Teens: choose by age and sex -- males 15, 16, and 17, females 15, 16, and 17, males 18, 19, and 20, females 18, 19, and 20.
Teens raising siblings -- males, females.
Single parents -- fathers, mothers.
Gay and lesbian -- males, females.
Group homes -- males 15, 16, and 17, females 15, 16, and 17, males 18, 19, and 20, females 18, 19, and 20.
Work placements -- males 15, 16, and 17, females 15, 16, and 17, males 18, 19, and 20, females 18, 19, and 20.
Okay, here are some tips for writing a letter that will get someone's attention and will get you good results. --this was written by a friend of mine for her pen pal site, and I've just changed it a little--
When you find a pen pal, it's a good idea to copy their ad so that you can go over it while you compose a letter (do not trust your memory, after a few hours you won't remember what hobbies they listed or what kind of things they enjoy ...). Write the letter as soon as possible. It's easy to forget, and remember, others are writing letters to the person too. If s/he can only write to a certain number of people, you might be rejected just because there's no room for you. Try to write on lined paper, or type. Never write in anything but pen, especially do not write in marker or pencil - I have had letters arrive during rain/snow weather and I could not read them - I've also had letters arrive that I could not read because pencil smudges as the paper is folded. Don't spray your letter with perfume or anything else that smells. Sure, you might think it smells good, but the smell changes after several days in a closed envelope, and others do not have the same taste as you do - you might like strawberry, but someone else might not. Don't put anything like confetti or glitter in the envelope. Once opened, the stuff gets all over the place, makes a mess, and the person is just not in a good mood - it can be annoying. When writing the letter, start with your name and address at the top. Why? It's easy to forget to include your address. A few people who wrote to me did, and I've heard others complaining of the same thing too. When you write e-mail, you don't have to write your address because your address is always automatically displayed. So, write your address, preferably both on the letter and on the envelope (not only on the envelope, because the envelope can get wet or torn and your address can get lost - and the ink on labels rubs off easily). Next, write the person's name in a greeting (Hi --name--, or Dear --name--). Personalize your letter so that the person feels like you really want to write to them, not just any pen pal. Before you get into lists of your favorite stuff, write the basic information about yourself. That is your name, age, sex, and how you found the person's address. When writing your name, tell the person exactly what you want to be called, do not list all your different nicknames, middle names ... it confuses people. If your name is Nicole but some people call you Cole, just pick one to introduce yourself with. You can always mention your nicknames later, but in the first letter you have to tell the person how to address you - your friends might call you Alex, your brother might call you Al, but your pen pal wants to know what s/he should call you. You should say what your sex is. Even if your name is so one-sex that it's not even funny. Names that are used for boys in the US are used for girls in some countries, US girl names are used for boys ... and some names can be a names for either sex. Skyler, Jamie, Kelly, and Jesse are examples. While you write your letter, look at the person's ad or review what you know about him/her. Does s/he like sports, music, movies ... by writing about things you have in common you can make your letter both more personalized and more interesting. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't write about yourself and things that make you unique. In fact, you should do exactly that. You have to stand out from all the rest of the pen pals who might be writing. Don't write that you're a blonde/16/f and leave it at that. There must be thousands of blonde/16/f's out there. Most people want to find someone interesting to be pen pals with, just the way we look for friends - we want them to be special, not just anyone. There's things that are unique about you. Everyone likes movies, but far less people like the same movies as you do. Don't write long lists though, lists of favorite music groups, movies, and celebrities sometimes take up most of a person's letter. They're not that much fun to read though. List your top 5 or 10. Believe it or not, it's okay to write about things like family, pets, and school. Once you're done with the letter, consider these last few things. Don't send photos in the first letter - you might not hear from that person and then it's a waste. Photos don't help your chances. Don't demand photos either, unless you can manage something better than the too-popular "send me your photos if you write back," - which is commonly read as "don't write back unless you send photos". Don't send phone numbers or ask for them unless you know the person is actually interested in phone pals. Many are not, and seeing that you expect a phone call will probably put them in the position of either having to turn you down and explain why, or not get back to you at all. How long should you give a person to write back? Actually, a couple of weeks. Those people who write to several pen pals can sometimes get busy with that or with other things, and a new pen pal is put on hold because it's immediate extra work - some can't fit an extra one in right away and it might be a few days/weeks before they do. If you find that you're sending many letters but rarely get an answer, you might want to see if you : a) use derogatory terms or slang words of any kind that can be offensive to any group of people, people who do not hold prejudice against that group, or people who feel that all prejudice is wrong and would rather not get involved with someone who doesn't share that view. b) use threats as a joke or half-joke. People who don't know you sometimes take things you say literally, and when you say "write back or else", you might be meaning it as a joke, but they might not think it's all too funny. c) are not careful enough when reading ads. Some people say "females only", "my age only", or other types of things that might rule you out as a potential pen pal. Respect what is written in the ad, and you will be more likely to get good results. d) type your letters. Typing is fine. Unless you have one letter that you print and send to everyone without making any sort of changes except maybe putting their name at the top. People don't respond well to that. Besides, you may have written the original letter to a pen pal, commenting on his/her ad, and this time you're sending it to someone else, but the comments no longer match the ad.
If you're not having much luck, consider placing your own ad on a pen pal site. Be specific both about yourself and what you want in a pen pal.