English 2 classes wrote letters to President-elect Donald Trump to voice opinions on the topic of their choice. These wide variety of topics ranged from gun control to LGBTQ rights, and it was personal enough to give students more meaning to their writing.

The English 2 classes did the project for their second unit “Raise Your Voice,” which is all about expressing your views. Through the website Letters to the Next President, over 12,000 students from across the United States were able to share their opinions through writing.

“We discussed on a daily basis the importance of sharing your beliefs and being open to hearing new ideas. With the election occurring during this unit, we thought it would make the lessons and writing assignment more engaging and relevant for our students,” English teacher Rachel Bostick said.

Since the students were able to choose their topic, they then went on to research it in order to further understand how it affected our community. This research portion was important, since it gave students the knowledge to create their own argument.

“We wrote the letters to the president because we wanted to raise our voices to inform [the president] of issues we feel need to [be taken] seriously,” sophomore English 2 student Anjelica Mendez said.

Mendez chose the topic of immigration and wrote her letter based on the laws. “[Immigration issues] impact so many families in the United States, and [it is] hard to get legal status here,” Mendez added.

The entire project was student driven, and the students had the ability to concentrate on issues that mattered to the next generation of voters.

“Our hope was that students could voice their opinion about a topic or issue that really mattered to them. By using the format of a letter and giving them an outside audience, we wanted them to really think about what matters to them and find their voice as they speak out about it,” Bostick said.