STUDENT LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
“Mr. Obama, Can We Come and Visit You?”
Local High School Kids Are on a Mission: To Get Themselves Invited To The White House
Read letters from Crenshaw High School students Mia Henry, Trestan Fairweather, Diana Parra- Garcia and Ana Ixtlahuac…more letters to come.
Dear President Obama,
I’m Mia Henry. I am 15 years old and a sophomore at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, CA. I would like to visit the White House because it is a historic place and the home of our first African American president and his family. I would like to see the Oval Office, where deals are made and deals are signed into law. I would like to run across the lawn and run through the long hallway. Most of all, I would like to speak to the first family and talk to President Obama.
I would ask him how does he stay focused on helping the economy in spite of all that is said to discourage him? I would like to ask Michelle Obama how she stays so down to earth even though she is under a magnifying glass all of the time. It would be my honor to visit the White House and become a part of our history.
One of the things I have gotten out of his education speech is to take responsibility for your education and stay committed even though you may feel like giving up … you appreciate things that you work hard for rather than if they were just given to you. An education earned is an education learned.
Sincerely
Mia Henry
Dear President Obama,
I’m Trestan Fairweather a student at Crenshaw High School and a member of the Barack Obama Digital Media team. I’m writing regarding a visit to the White House so that we may be able to meet formally in person. At first I didn’t think there was a benefit in meeting the President for two reasons. One reason was that a President is just another regular old person but with bigger responsibilities. The other reason is that I didn’t feel that it was important to waste my vacation time on another school lesson, because I don’t really like school. But after talking to my instructor Ms. Bradford and watching your back to school speech I am now starting to think otherwise.
I now have a better understanding in why it is essential for me to meet the President. Your back to school speech has inspired me not to give up when times are hard but to keep on going so that I will eventually succeed. What you said about failing has happened to me before and I didn’t realize it until later on. I was at one point struggling to pass two of my computer classes, Computer Architecture and Digital Media. My grades were borderline and I was on the verge of failing. But I took responsibility of my education and studied hard so that I could pass my classes. I earned my first digital media certification and now I am on the John Lennon Educational Tour bus producing this video letter to you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXg2qBZH-Wo .
Next stop the White house.
Sincerely,
Trestan Fairweather
Dear President Barack Obama,
I am one of the members of the Barack Obama Digital Media Team. My story of how I ended up in this group started when I was in middle school .
In middle school my grades started from good to bad to worse. So when I went to High School I committed myself to get the highest grades that I could. What I did was get into programs after school to keep me out of trouble. While I was taking advantage of the tutoring program at my school, which by the way gives us five extra credits for getting help for homework, I came across a computer program to get certified in iLife designed for Mac computers. I decided to go because I wanted to learn how to use Macs. Once I joined I got a great opportunity to go to events and take pictures, learn how to use video cameras and put it all together in a podcast or video. Since then my teacher Ms. Bradford decided to make it as an official class in the second semester, so I decided to take it as a class as well.
I am glad I did because going to the after school classes as many times as I could right after class paid off. I ended up winning the grand prize which was a brand new MacBook laptop.
What I like was it didn’t stop there. In the summer all of the Barack Obama Digital team was certified. Then we covered healthcare rallies. One of the things that I liked about this experience was how it made me feel as a young adult. I learned I will end up doing this any way because it will soon effect me. It really opened my eyes to how much drama they are making about the healthcare reform. And I now know why people are against or for health care reform. I used to be confused and I am now confused even more which is good because it makes me pay more attention to what’s happening and to get a better understanding of the issues.
I am now a sophomore at Crenshaw High School and we have been determined to get your attention so that you can invite us to visit the White House. Why? Because we want to meet you, the President of the United States, and give you a personal lesson on the exciting technology we have been learning.
Until we meet,
Diana Parra Garcia
Dear President Obama,
My name is Ana Ixtlahuac, I live in Los Angeles, California where I am a student attending Crenshaw High School. My school, as well as other LAUSD schools, has a bad reputation. They say our schools have really bad test scores and that our students don’t take their education seriously. But they do.
Many students act up because they need help or have not found a reason to do well. In my case I have been one of those students but I have found a reason to do well. I guess the reason I have for doing well in school is to become someone great in life and help out my family.
I have heard that First Lady Michelle Obama, wants to turn the White House into the most open White House. I also heard that schools close to the White house are able to come visit. What about the other schools in the country? My school, Crenshaw High School, has a lot of people that would love to come visit and I’m glad to say I’m one of them.
I took a class named Computer Visual Handling and we focused on Digital Media. We know you are the first President that really cares about digital media and we support you. We formed a group called “The Barack Obama Digital Media Team”. I’m proud to say that we took our first digital media certification test this year and I passed. We would really love to come visit the White House and show you our digital media skills.
Thank you for your time,
Ana Ixtlahuac