The greeting cards are handmade, and even though they are sent to strangers, they hold tender messages.
One note to a refugee says, “Thinking about you, caring about you, wishing you strength and peace!”
Another, for a veteran, reads: “Courage, bravery, love, and strength are just a few words used to describe you. Our hero.”
Every month, dozens of these cards are created by college and elementary school students, inspired and led by Nicole Pennell ’23G, who also distributes them to hospital patients, refugees, and veterans. The circulation and operations manager at St. Anselm College library, Pennell puts out card stock, markers, pencils and crayons, and students come and create.
The inspiration for the project began with an online course Pennell took as part of her master of education program at Plymouth State, which has a focus on library science.
Professor Trish Lindberg’s “Imagination, Creativity and Innovation” course at first made Pennell feel vulnerable, until the joy in creativity moved her. “The class challenged me in a good way, and something so great came out of it, and it awakened something in me,” she says. “It taught me to be more courageous in my creativity.”
Pennell’s first career centered around language. After earning a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology in 1990, she worked for an online software company, traveling around the world to gather information from potential users who speak different languages so products could be adapted for use in many countries. Later, she worked for an online firm that transformed English documents into other languages.
Pennell left FreeTranslation.com when her son was born in 2001, and when he went to school she wanted to head back into the workforce, but this time as a paraprofessional with junior high school students.
Eventually, Pennell was led to library work, choosing Plymouth State for graduate school because she could do her coursework online and continue working. She took Lindberg’s course last spring and was tasked with incorporating creativity into that work.
“I was struggling to think of things I worked on that could be creative. I had to go beyond what I thought were traditional creative projects and think more deeply,” Pennell says.
For one assignment, she tested her hypothesis that people of all ages can be creative if there is no fear of criticism. She recruited volunteers and asked them to draw or paint a landscape that included a house and a tree. Each time new artwork arrived, Pennell felt happy, and she wanted to keep the joy going and build momentum.
She began hosting groups of “artists” to create in her home, and over time, the idea to distribute handmade cards evolved. She recruited collaborative partners that include librarian Kathleen Johnston of St. Benedict Academy’s integrated arts group; Johnston helps children create cards that Pennell also distributes.
This semester, Pennell is engaged in her Capstone Project, developing a curriculum unit. Fourth graders will learn that Franco Americans trace their ancestry to Canada, what led them to Manchester, what challenges they faced, and how they contributed to city’s development.
Pennell began her work as library administrative coordinator eight years ago and she says her studies at Plymouth State were instrumental in her promotion to management. After graduation, she expects to remain in her role, although she’d like to remain a student forever. “I love to learn,” she says. “I love the process of connecting with the professors and the other students to explore ideas and challenge the way you are thinking.”
