Freshman football player Shawn Lee writes home on a regular basis, but not all of his letters are addressed to his family.

The Harrisburg native is the only member of the Images Pen Pal program writing to his own Marshall Elementary School.

Lee is one of 75 Penn State volunteer athletes, cheerleaders, student athletic trainers and Blue Band members to have his spot in the mailbag. Yesterday, the first wave of letters was sent from student-athletes in University Park to fourth graders in Harrisburg.

"It's for a good cause," Lee said. "Especially going back to the community where I come from. Being from Harrisburg, I thought it was the right thing to do."

The program was the brainchild of Norm Mitchell, director of pupil services for the school district, and Penn State graduate student Don Foltz.

Foltz said the idea stemmed from an incident last year when a friend asked him for Lion running back Ki-Jana Carter's autograph for his daughter.

"As it turns out, Ki-Jana ended up writing a letter to her," Foltz said. "He was asking me for a lot of specific information in it. That was where I got the idea."

After Foltz met with Mitchell last August, the proposal was presented to Penn State's Life Skills Program for Student Athletes, a program designed to help athletes develop skills to prepare them for working in the real world. Among those who heard the proposal was Deanna Waalkes, the program's coordinator.

With her help, the Student Peer Athlete Network -- an organization of athletes that work with the community -- decided to take part in the pen-pal program.

Waalkes said this experience will improve community outreach and provide the fourth graders with some relief from their embattled environment -- 69 percent of the children live in low economic standards, Mitchell said.

Eight hundred fourth graders in 30 different classrooms will be receiving the mail. The athletes will not be writing to individual students; instead, at least two athletes, one male and one female, will write letters addressed to the entire class. The athletes were assigned to classes based on similar interests determined by a student profile of the Harrisburg students.

Each athlete is expected to write one letter every two weeks for a total of four to five letters. Photos of the athletes will be provided to the children in the second letter.

Waalkes said there are many benefits to the program, not only for the fourth graders, but also for the athletes.

"It gives our athletes a chance to reach out to the community and to the children of Harrisburg and act as role models," she said.

Mitchell sees three benefits for the fourth graders. Not only will they get role models, but they will also gain some valuable writing experience and a chance to learn how to use the postal service correctly.

"I don't know when most people learned how to write and send a letter," Mitchell said, "but I was well beyond the fourth grade."

However, Mitchell sees the role-model experience as the most important benefit. During a SPAN meeting on Feb. 1, Mitchell pointed out a number he hopes to improve.

"Out of 350 Harrisburg High School graduates last year, only 18 percent committed to attending a four-year college," he said. "It's my hope that a large majority of our kids realize at a very young age that they can also go to college."

Senior Lady Lion volleyball and basketball player Jen Reimers said she understands the impact she and other athletes could have on the children.

"As we're put on the TV, (the children) copy what we do, and it's important that we touch a couple people," she said.

Freshman Lady Lion swimmer Karna Lorhammer said there is also a benefit for herself.

"I'm thinking of becoming a teacher," she said. "It's a good way to communicate with kids, to see what they're thinking."

Coordinators of the program are trying to set up a face-to-face meeting between the children and the athletes in April, possibly for National Student-Athlete Day.

And no one will be more at home with the Harrisburg students than Lee, who hopes the children will be able to learn from his example, since he was once in the very same spot that they are now.

"I'm going to tell (the children) to stay focused and set their goals," said Lee, "because they do come true."