More from Marty Roberts and his amazing students at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California, who shared their work in the hallway of their school after watching the inauguration together:Dear President Obama:
My name is Saki. I am a senior at Hillsdale High School. I have been living and learning English in San Mateo, California for two years. Congratulations on your election! When I watched your election speech, “Yes, we can," I was sure you were going to make this country, as well as the world, better. I have two things that I would like you to improve. One thing is that everyone gets a job so that there are no homeless people in the streets. When I see those people, I feel pain, so I hope you come up with helpful ideas. I have already heard you are preparing jobs for about three hundreds million people. I am really impressed. In Japan, there are also many people who were laid off, so your new policy will impress the Japanese president and help him consider wonderful ideas like you did. The other one is the environmental issue. In recent years, almost every grocery store or shop sells the eco bag and I often see people using it a lot. I hope you will encourage people to participate in planet friendly life more. Recycling is also a significant way to save our lives. I noticed people use too much paper in this country, especially fast food shops. Every burger and item is wrapped with paper, which is only used once and thrown away. This is very wasteful. I suggest people bring plastic container to the shops and wash it at home. The things can be used again and again that need to be increased. I do not want to create more garbage any more. This is important because we need to save our world not only for ourselves, but also for next generation.
I hope the wonderful future will come during your term in office. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Saki
Dear President Obama:
My name is Felix and I’m from Guatemala. I’m a Latino student at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo California. I am very proud that you are the President because you are going to change the United States. My dream is that you can make reform for all the immigrants that came here without permission. My other hope is that if you can find a way to give drivers' licenses to immigrants because they need it to work. I hope you can help me to change our country in a better way by not separated families and giving permission of work to all immigrants.
Sincerely,
Felix
Dear President Obama:
I am Hatibe from Turkey. Actually I cannot send this letter from Turkey. I am no longer in my country. I came the U.S, your country, for my education. Two years ago, I cannot even imagine coming here. I and my friends were planning to go to the same university. To be honest, we were only planning because it is hard to go to a medical school of an average university. We need to spend our every minute to prepare for the big exam. Also there are so many students and not enough university. I wish my friends could be here and see how easy it is to have same chance with all students.
I do not have any wish about my life. I want something that every person who wants peace in this world. My real country is not in war but I cannot stand looking at crying children because of the war, famine and poorness on televisions. This is a truth that nobody can deny the U.S is one of the most important countries in the world. If the U.S wants, other countries might do something to stop wars. That is all my hope about future. A peaceful world…
Sincerely,
Hatibe
Dear president-Elect Obama:
Hi, my name is Araceli. I am a 15 years old Latina and I live in San Mateo, California. I am a student at Hillsdale High school. I am happy that this year you are going to be our new President. I hope you will end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the war people are dying and many families are getting destroyed. They just can’t live a normal life and thousands of people are suffering. Moreover, I would like to see some changes in this country. I know it is not easy but I would like to see you give immigrants the right to stay in this country because they come to work, to get a better life, and support themselves and their families. Additionally, I have a dream. I want to graduate from high school and hope I can go on to college and get a job that I am going to love. This dream is important because I want to be successful in life. Thank you for taking your time reading my letter.
Sincerely,
Araceli
