Students Receive Letters They Wrote 6 Years Ago

Most people can’t remember where they went on vacation six years ago, let alone recall writing a letter to themselves when they were in sixth grade.

That’s exactly why it was a surprise when students from Thomas Coffey’s class at Seneca Middle School started receiving letters in the final weeks of their stay at Sachem High School North this year.

“It was actually pretty funny,” said North senior Tim Lang, who received a letter. “I had no recollection of doing that at all. I had some laughs reading it. It’s funny to see how much we have changed.”

Angelo Armine and Lang both played football and lacrosse at North and had similar mentions in their letters. They both stressed their love of lacrosse, which is no surprise since they’re each going to play in college; Lang at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and Armine at Molloy.

Armine, the character he is, spoke of how much he loves himself and followed that with a plea for the King of Pop, saying Michael Jackson was innocent for child sexual abuse. Lang said the same thing about Jackson and Kobe Bryant, who was accused of sexual assault.

Lang and Armine each name themselves as their best friends. Lang also wrote about his lacrosse coaches, his father John and Rich Petillo, who went on to become assistants with the varsity program as well.

"There aren't many times in my life that I got the chills, truly got the chills, but hearing my son Angelo read this mysterious letter out loud, coming to the end and realizing it was a letter he sent to himself was  definitely chill time," said Patty Armine, Angelo's mother. "I cried, I laughed, and then I marveled at the thought of a teacher who held these letters for six years and was thoughtful enough to send them. 

"How fast six years went by. Our group of boys had a charmed childhood together in school and sports from kindergarten to 12 grade. This letter was the cherry on the cake. A great ending to a memorable ride."

Patty called Coffey and told him, "what a great idea and I hope that this becomes a Sachem tradition."

Coffey, who teaches math at Seneca now, has one more year of students left to receive letters. So if you’re an incoming junior at North and had Coffey at Seneca, stay tuned for the end of the 2011-12 school year for a letter in the mail.