First graders’ letters to Trump go viral
PORTOLA VALLEY (KRON)-Some first graders on the Peninsula are going viral for the letters they sent to President-elect Donald Trump.
Their teacher and parents didn’t expect all the attention they’ve gotten, but they said it’s mostly been positive.
“Dear Mr. Trump, please let people with different color skin be friends,” one student wrote. “I hope you are excited to be President.”
Marie Keating hadn’t planned on having her first grade class write letters to the winner of the presidential election until the morning after, when Donald Trump’s victory was the big buzz around school.
“They needed to do something, recognize it,” Keating said. “It’s a huge current event and I wanted them to each have a voice.”
She let them ask whatever they wanted to, and only helped with spelling or other questions.
Sabrina Soto’s request for Donald Trump was just one short sentence, but to her, it means the world.
“He’s gonna change it, but then he sees the letter and is like, ‘Oh, people should be friends,’ ’cause barely any people wouldn’t be friends,” Soto said.
Her mom loved the idea, and was impressed with her daughter’s thoughts.
“There hasn’t been discussion about racism,” said Sabrina’s mom Aida Soto. “That wasn’t something that we talked about with her. We did censor some of the debates, for example, and didn’t let her watch it, so these are just things kids pick up.”
The letters themselves got picked up, too.
Keating sent them off and posted about it on Facebook.
Eventually her story spread until New York magazine posted the letters on their site.
Thousands of commenters have given mostly positive response.
But Keating disagrees with readers who say the kids are only regurgitating what they hear at home.
“Each of these children, the children in my class are fully capable of making their own decisions on this, and it really shows through in their letters,” Keating said.
Now, the teacher is checking Trump’s Twitter account to see whether he might perhaps give a digital response.
Woodland School has still been getting lots of media attention, even from national outlets.