Letters to Strangers (L2S) is a Pace Center student group focused on mental health awareness and advocacy. Our main activity is letter exchanges!
Normally, we hold biweekly letter exchanges where we write letters and send it off to an anonymous recipient – aka, a ‘Stranger.’ These exchanges occur with other L2S members, and sometimes with the entire Princeton student body.
In addition to the form in the sidebar, you can reach out to our student leaders, listed on the Team page. Our current co-presidents are Marlene Cardoza ’24 (mec13@) and Isaac Lunar ’24 (ilunar@).
What’s in a letter?
Anything and everything! You will be heard. Just let it out! Talk about what’s going on in your life, what you’re worrying about, what you’re looking forward to. Keep in mind that letters are a two-way street, so make sure to be respectful. (More details on how to write a letter.)
To help spark that writing spirit, we send out monthly prompts that are thematic and optional.
Some past prompts:
- Unexpected
- How do you handle the unexpected?
- When was the last time something unexpected happened to you?
- How have you created ‘unexpectedness’ in your life, and why?
- Trust
- What makes a trustworthy person?
- What does trust mean to you?
- Would you describe yourself as someone you personally can depend on?
- Fear
- When did you feel afraid – and how did you get through that experience?
- In a time when fear spreads quickly, how can one be brave?
- Oftentimes, we look back and wonder what we were so worried about. How can we minimize the power of fear in the first place?
Some sample letters:
What can I do?
For starters, you can join our letter exchanges! During Fall 2022, we’ll be hosting virtual exchanges between L2S students.
We’ll have one meeting every week that you’re welcome to attend throughout the year 😊 The purpose of the meeting will switch every other week. The first week will be centered on casual discussions about the letter exchanges. The second week will be everything else: other L2S projects and social events.
What other projects? Beyond our letter exchanges, we also work on promoting youth mental health through a variety of avenues. This fall we will begin working on expanding our letter exchange service to be able to accommodate the entire campus community on a more consistent basis, rather than for just those who are L2S members. We are also always open to new mental health projects, so let us know what you’re passionate about and we can work to make it happen!
For our past projects, take a look through the ‘Showcase’ in the top menu.