Tell me this isn't that most awesome idea ever! I can't believe this is round 10! I missed out on all the other rounds, but I'm glad they are coming back for another one! I love snail mail (sending and receiving!) and what an awesome way to have a new friend, that you can connect with by mailing goodies and letters too. Their website offers so much more now! My favorite is that you can unlock achievement points...but hey, enough of my blabber! Here's some more info from their press release:
The International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club (geekgirlpenpals.com) has redesigned and rebuilt their
website and forums from scratch. Now, geek girls (and guys) worldwide can join in the fun on their
site by registering for a geeky pen pal, conversing on the forum and now battle their way up the
leaderboard with our brand new achievements! The site has also been optimized for mobile viewing
so you can keep up with IGGPPC from your phone or tablet!
"We introduced the Achievements functionality to encourage more friendly competition among our
members" explains Emily Farquharson, one of the co-founders of the club and leader of House
GlaDOS. Achievements include ones for holidays, active posters/bloggers, inter-house
competitions, fandom achievements like "Total Whovian" and there are even secret ones hidden
around the site! This new and improved expansion to the IGGPPC Universe also includes the
addition of four new staff members: Arielle Fragassi, Kimberlee Lockhart, Valerie Minnich and
Summer Sparacin, who have been lovingly dubbed their Ninjas. Their initial contribution will be
forum moderation and helping with organizing projects on the website.
IGGPPC community members are sorted into Houses, based on age, which are used to organize
pan pal match ups. The houses are named for four famous females in geek culture: Hermione
Granger (Harry Potter), Harley Quinn (Batman), GlaDOS (Portal) and Princess Leia (Star Wars). In
addition to pen pals and discussion forums, the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club offers
members a chance to join in fun online and offline activities like photography contests, a book club,
meet ups for local chapters, candy and gift swaps and even street team swag to spread the word.
"We first established the Club in March of 2013 we had no idea it would grow and evolve into the
creative, supportive, intelligent and wise-cracking community we have today." said Leslie Stewart,
who is the club’s other co-founder and heads up House Granger. “So many of our members have
been there from the very beginning, so it will be incredible to be able to track and chronicle our
journey together through our new site.”
As to the rapid success the Club has had over the past year, they're not shy with numbers. "We
have 2,500 Facebook likes, we've paired nearly 10,000 girls and guys with a pen pal from around
the globe, and hand sorted through nearly 50,000 geek loves, that help us to determine the
compatibility of pen pals." Jen Giammarco, staff member and leader of House Organa, divulges.
"It's overwhelming and amazing, the response we've had."
The club has also been helped along thanks to some rad celebrities on Twitter who have helped
us spread the word as well. "We've been retweeted by musician Amanda Palmer, super geek celeb
Veronica Belmont, geek girl collective Team Unicorn and even Amy Poehler's Smart Girls." says
Emma Somerville, who is in charge of House Quinn. "And we really hope more geeks get wind of
our cool little club we've started and help us to spread the word."
The new Geek Girl Pen Pals website, achievements and all, is available to check out at
www.geekgirlpenpals.com from Saturday 11th January 2014. Girls and guys, aged 13 and up, are
welcome to join the site, earn achievements, and sign up to be paired with a pen pal on the 15th
of every month.
You can follow IGGPPC on Twitter @IGGPPCHQ (or search for #IGGPPC) or find them on
Facebook (www.facebook.com/geekgirlpenpals).
So head on over to their website and join in on the fun!
Credit: Logos & Pictures via IGGPPC
