A local kindergartner got the attention of the most powerful person on the planet recently.

Sanaa Horton was a kindergartner in Claire Ross’ classroom at Estes Hills Elementary, in May, when they had a writing assignment. Sanaa decided she would write a letter to President Barack Obama.

“He helps our country. He helps the people that were poor. He takes care of America. That is why I love my President,” she recited on Tuesday in her first-grade classroom.

Listen to the story below:


She was reading her letter to the President because, as she was about to find out, the President had written back. President Obama sent a letter back to Sanna as well as pictures of the President, the first family and the first dog, Bo.

Sanaa Horton receiving gift package from President Barack Obama with her Kindergarten teacher Claire Ross. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Sanaa Horton receiving gift package from President Barack Obama with her Kindergarten teacher Claire Ross. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Ross read the response from the President to a class of eager listeners.

“Hearing from young people like you inspires me each and every day,” the President’s letter reads. “And I’m glad that you took the time to share your thoughts. As a nation, we have no higher priority than making sure the doors of opportunity are wide open for you and your generation. And, as President, that is a promise I will never stop working to keep.”

Ross says she has checked her mail with anticipation every day since sending the letter to the White House in May and adds it was emotional to receive the response on Monday night.

“I literally just cried and smiled at the same time,” Ross says, “and ran all the way home.

“I was truly running up the sidewalk, smiling and crying at the same time. [Sanaa] wanted it so much, and she worked so hard. And it came full circle.”
Ross adds she knew the moment would mean a lot to Sanaa, but Ross says she was excited to see what it meant to all of the other students.

“I hoped that all of the kids would feel inside that they can do anything that they put their mind to,” she says. “That we’re all here to help them. All the teachers here are here to support them and help them and help them reach their goals and dreams.

First-grade students at Estes Hill Elementary looking at items in gift package from President Barack Obama. Photo via Blake Hodge.

First-grade students at Estes Hill Elementary looking at items in gift package from President Barack Obama. Photo via Blake Hodge.

“It’s very heartwarming.”

Tamara Horton is Sanaa’s mother. She says she was shocked to hear the news from Ross that the President had written back to her daughter.

“I was like, ‘What?’ and [Ross] was like, ‘Yeah! I’m so excited and [Sanaa] is going to be so excited to when she sees it,” Horton recalled. “It’s touching as a mother.”

While Tamara was a bit surprised to hear back, she says Sanaa never had a doubt.

“She was like, “I knew he was going to send me a letter back,” Horton says. “For her to have that confidence that he was going to send something back is awesome.

“I’m having a proud-mama moment right now.”

They hadn’t picked out a place to display the fruits of Sanaa’s hard work around the house just yet, but that undoubtedly won’t take very long.