A small world
August 14, 2023

Rowan Jess, left, and Haley Theis, right, read a bound archive of the Independent from 1983 in search of articles on the original Carrington Youth Center and Haley's great-grandmother, Phyllis (Phyl) Veiman, who served as director and supervisor of the center. Rowan and Haley met during the pandemic, and have struck up a pen pal friendship over the past few years.
With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping students in varying degrees of lockdown measures in 2020, two young girls from different states but with common roots decided to share their lives' details with each other.
Rowan Jess, daughter of Kirk and Karla Jess and an incoming sophomore at Carrington High School, became pen pals with Haley Theis, a freshman from Medina, Minn., and the daughter of Karri T...
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