Subscribe to Pittwire Today
Get the most interesting and important stories from the University of Pittsburgh.Gracie Kahoun, surrounded by her women’s lacrosse teammates in a Pitt locker room, is trying to decide what she should write on the piece of paper in front of her.
It’s a letter that needs to inspire the next generation of female athletes who participate with the Estelle S. Campbell Clubhouse, part of the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, a short bus ride from Pitt’s campus.
“All of the letters had to start off by encouraging girls to stay in sports,” Kahoun said. “And then we all had to say why we play women’s sports. My reasoning was, I found my best friends through sports.”
So began Pitt Pals, a letter-writing outreach that Kahoun (CGS ’25) started in the spring with the help of Liz Stieg, the sports manager at the Boys and Girls Club and leader of See Her Be Her, an eight-week program that connects young girls with coaches, college athletes and WNBA players to teach them skills in basketball and life.
With Stieg’s help, Kahoun and her teammates were soon exchanging letters with 47 girls in third through eighth grade.
“It definitely leveled up our program,” Stieg said. “It’s just a little added bonus that these kids look forward to getting their letters every week and seeing what their Pitt Pal said to them.”
In early correspondences, the girls asked the lacrosse players mostly about their favorite sports teams — but soon they opened up with confessions on grades, fights with siblings and even being adopted.
“It was really cute just seeing how trusting they are, and their cute little handwriting with their colored markers made it even more adorable,” Kahoun said. “Instead of just a surface-level relationship, these girls are willing to tell us anything.”
And reading the colorful letters aloud in the locker room became “a fun team camaraderie event,” Kahoun said.
Kahoun started Pitt Pals because she knew how it felt to be a child on the receiving end of the encouraging notes. While her younger sister Ruby was battling leukemia, Kahoun’s parents signed her up for Mia Hamm’s Star Siblings program, where the two-time gold medalist and two-time FIFA World Cup Champion for U.S. Soccer would write letters to the siblings of people battling serious illnesses.
Kahoun said she remembers receiving the letters from Hamm in the mail, bringing them to school and feeling thrilled that a famous athlete would write to her. She also thought that receiving and sending letters would be meaningful for the girls in See Her Be Her.
“Sometimes, just receiving something from one end, you don’t feel the connection,” Kahoun said. “But when you’re writing back to someone, hearing from them, and they’re answering your questions, I think it just elevates the connection more.”
Stieg said that through conversation, the young Pitt Pals found role models.
“When they saw they’re talking to older girls, they could see an older sister kind of vibe,” Stieg said. “The girls were like, ‘Oh, this is so cool. They’re accepting, they’re nice, they really want to know us.’”
It shows how one of Pitt’s newest varsity sports teams is fostering a winning culture not only on the field but also in community outreach as well. Pitt women’s lacrosse finished the past season with its best record yet, winning multiple games in the Atlantic Coast Conference, securing the program’s first win over Penn State and earning a first-ranked win in program history over No. 25 Notre Dame, a game at which some of the Pitt Pals were first able to meet their role models in person. Several team members also spoke at the Estelle S. Campbell Clubhouse at the end of the program.
Kahoun said when she brought the Pitt Pals idea up to her team, not a single person questioned it or didn’t want to take part — they all immediately said yes.
“We’re building our program from the ground up,” Kahoun said. “One of our pillars has always been service — serving others and being kind individuals.”
“I think a lot of student-athletes don't realize the platform we have and how cool little kids think we are — we just think we’re normal people,” she added. “But I remember being a little kid and hearing about a college lacrosse player and being like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my dream.’”
Photography provided