Last year, about 50 third- and fourth-grade students from the Robert Bruce migrant after-school program wrote letters to President Barack Obama sharing their concerns about their community, nation, and world. They asked him questions about crime in their neighborhoods, education funding, the war, and even about his dog, Bo.
After months of waiting, the students recently got a reply letter from the president, a photo, and a biography of the First Dog in the mail, the Santa Maria-Bonita School District announced earlier this month.
“The students were very excited,” Robert Bruce teacher Bill Infanto said in a press release. “They never thought the president would write back to them. The office of the president is pretty far removed from their lives.”
In his letter, the president encouraged the students to work hard and thanked them for being an inspiration. Each student will get a photocopy of the letter, photo, and biography. Infanto told district officials that the students’ next project will be writing letters to First Lady Michelle Obama to invite her to visit their school.
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2010.
