Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is an online writing and publishing project for students, ages 13 - 18, co-sponsored by Google and the National Writing Project. They invited young people to write about the issues and concerns that they feel are central to their future, issues they would hope our next president would act on. Topics were chosen by the students themselves to reflect their specific personal, regional, and age-related interests.
Click Here to see the site where you can post your letter, read letters from others and vote for your favorite.
Post your letter as comment here by November 6th for 100 points.
4 comments:
Dear Current or Future President,
I am a seventeen year old soon to be eighteen on 11/09/08. I have had a very important concern for over eleven years. I am writing to ask you if you can help me acquire my citizenship. For fifteen years, I have considered myself Haitian-American. In those past years, my family has been trying to so hard to make me a United States citizen. We have been going through my adoption agency the Three Rivers and have been going through the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) and we have been ignored while the process has been drawn out. The INS has repeatedly told us that we must get my citizenship before I am eighteen years of age. They also told us that we must have a sponsor and that we have to have a certain amount of income to achieve this. We were also informed that before I get my official citizenship, I must get a green card. This of course would take a ridiculous amount of money and time. My parents are not able to work, they are disabled, and so coming up with the money is very hard for them. We have looked for anyone that is willing to sponsor me, but no one came through. They are worried that they would be responsible for my medical bills and such. My family is not what you call rich or middle class, we are happy and comfortable. Without my citizenship, I cannot vote, I cannot get a job, I cannot leave the country, I cannot get any acceptances to any college, and I cannot get any scholarships. I want to be able to call myself a United States citizen because of the pride that comes with it; I want to have that pride. If you can please help me acquire my citizenship, my pride will be raised, and I can finally go around exclaiming that I am a United States citizen.
Sincerely,
Marlene Gail Noble
Dear Mr. President,
I am nineteen years old and this was my first election. I tried my best to watch every debate to see who would be the best canidate to represent our country. My mom and I discussed the issues that she felt were important, because at my age I am not really sure of how all the different things that happen now can affect my future. The main thing I am concerned about is the cost of fuel. My mom is a single parent and our home is heated by oil and it is very expensive for her to keep us warm in the fall and winter months. The LIHEAP program helps her out with the costs but it isn't enough. When it came to voting, the decision was mine to vote for who I wanted. My family was very proud and I am proud to be part of this historic moment in time. We have come such a long way and hopefully with your leadership the United States of America can again be the proud nation we once were. Congratulatiions and I am looking forward to the changes the next four years will bring.
Respectfully,
Ashley King
Dear Obama,
I'm a 20 year old who is a senior in highschool right now and there's one issue that I believe needs to be addressed before anything else.To start, I believe there is a serious energy crysis that our government is taking no steps to fix.We are far too dependent on oil to power every aspect of our daily lives.What makes this worse, is that the US can only make less then 20% of its oil and depends on foreign powers for the other 80% of it.On top of all this, the only is just getting harder to find, and will eventually run out.I believe that we must take steps now to avoid a disaster which will certainly come in the near future if we don't cut our dependance on fossil fuels.Furthermore, these fossil fuels are causing irreparable damages to our enviorment and eco systems around the world.Since we still don't fully understand how eco systems work, it is a very dangerous game to keep annhilalating them 1 by 1 off the face of the earth.Earth is now obviously under a period of global warming, and studies have shown that this is due to human interference.If it keeps going at the current rate, we might hit a point of no turning back.That is, where global temeperatures will be completely out of our control and will spiral upward at a rate never seen before.This could very well lead to an uninhabitable planet as we know it, a place humans will not be able to survive. I believe it's time to stop talking, and start taking action.This problem was brought to the publics attention since the early 1970's and we still haven't done too much about it.There are plenty of cleaner energy alternatives out there,and the reason we're not tapping into them involve big business,big money and huge corporations. I believe it's time to put our planet first,since it's the only one we have.Also going green could be good economically as well, considering that it would probably make more jobs for people then it would end. The United States has to be a role model for the rest of the world on this issue, and so far we're getting left far behind,by places such as Europe who are making good strides to go green.If we develop or perfect a cleaner energy source that we can make on our own land instead of having it imported, we could be saving the country billions of dollars each year.We must also conserve natural habitats and ecosystems.This also has to do with the rising temperatures, since trees absorb carbon that otherwise escapes into the atmosphere and heats the planet.The key to this whole issue is finding a balance between humans and their enviorments, and respecting all other life forms on the planet as well.We need to get legislature passed immediately to put laws in place againsed cutting down natural habitats or altering them in every way. There also needs to be proper funding for research companies studying alternative energies and fuels.If we can do all this in the next 10 years, then we might actually have something to leave behind for our children and grandchilden , instead of just a scortching hot,sterile planet devoid of life.
Sincerely,
Denis Zecevic
Dear Mr. President,
I was writing to tell you some of the concerns I have as a young adult in American Society. People do not think that what I am concerned about and what I have to say make a difference, but you should because we are the future. I think it’s time for you to bring home our troops, and that we should not of had a war to begin with. Too many of our soldiers have died when we haven’t had threats to our country in six years. We have also killed too many innocent people over there. People say they want world peace, but how can we achieve that if all we do is fight. Freedom and peace are worth fighting for but how can we achieve those goals if we are killing innocent bystanders? We also need to look into alternative fuel methods, most people can’t afford to drive to work anymore so more people are quitting their jobs and relying on welfare. I think that if you can even start to help those two things, you will do a better job than a lot of the past presidents.
Thanks
Breanna
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