Local high school, college and university students are invited to converse with compatible students from around the globe through the sixth annual Digital Pen Pal Program.
Through this initiative, administered through Sister Cities of Long Beach, students will be assigned pen pals from one of Long Beach’s eight international sister cities based on their shared interests and exchange digital messages on suggested topics, with the goal of nurturing cultural understanding and global friendships. Applications are due online by October 13.
“The Digital Pen Pal program is an opportunity for Long Beach students to learn more about the lives of students who live in one of our eight sister cities,” said Susan Redfield, President of Sister Cities of Long Beach, in a public statement. “It’s a wonderful program that allows students to better understand each other’s cultures, traditions and stay connected. It also allows students to make new friends from around the world and potentially win scholarship money.”
The program will run from November through January 2026, with students set to communicate with their pen pals, create a final project cataloging their experiences and compete for scholarship awards judged by panels representing Long Beach and the sister cities.
An awards ceremony will be held in February 2026, in-person and through Zoom, to recognize the participants and highlight the winners. Around 200 students worldwide are anticipated to participate in this year’s program.
“We were excited to learn about what life was like 14,000 kilometers away, on the other side of the ocean,” said 2022 first-place winner Li Teng, age 21, a student from Qingdao University of Technology in Qingdao, China, in a shared statement. “Students in their twenties always have similar fun experiences as well as stress, but everyone was happy to share their lives with their companions.”
Long Beach’s sister and friendship cities are
- Yokkaichi, Japan
- Qingdao, China
- Sochi, Russia
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Mombasa, Kenya
- Bacolod, Philippines
- Taoyuan, Taiwan
- La Paz, Mexico
To learn more about Sisters Cities of Long Beach, visit sistercitiesoflongbeach.org.
