Annually, government classes learn about federal bureaucracies with special focus on the Food and Drug Administration through a documentary called “Food Inc.”
This year Lauren Ashley Villa’s honors government class wrote to the White House on food law corruption and received a class response back April 30 from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“I chose to write on food policy because it is so personal and it effects every one of us,” Villa said. “We use it to survive so it should be safe, affordable, and plentiful.”
President Obama encouraged students in his letter to be the change and make policy.
“He thanked the class overall for having solution driven letters,” Villa said. “Also, in his letter he even said that he was ‘moved,’ that we had written to him.”
Several students also received personal letters written by Michelle Obama delivered to their classrooms. Senior Kirrolos Guirguis was one of the few who opened her personal response.
“We all wrote a letter on how we would improve the FDA,” Guirguis said. “I wrote in response to Michelle Obama’s school lunch campaign. I gave suggestions for how she could encourage students to eat healthier. The idea of having a salad bar in each cafeteria would provide students with a wider meal selection, which in turn would cause students to stop skipping lunch.”
In her letter back to Guirguis, Michelle Obama stated the importance of raising these issues.
“Every American, no matter what age, has a special role to play in leading is to a better tomorrow,” Michelle Obama wrote in response. “We need your help to find them.”
Villa is hopeful that activities like this will cause students to be more active citizens, by giving them a problem to solve, a solution, and a way to act.
