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President Obama Pays Visit to Students Who Made YouTube Video About Economic Hardship

March 20, 2009

Rob Kuznia--HispanicBusiness.com

In addition to revolutionizing the concept of audio-visual entertainment, YouTube has proven that it can also be the new letter to the president. And anyone who thinks that the Leader of the Free World won't watch it need only meet a group of students at Village Academy High School in Pomona.

Last year, students in an AP Literature and Composition class created an nine-minute montage on YouTube for President Obama, in which they lamented how the economy is threatening their hopes and dreams for the future, and in some cases, wreaking havoc on their family lives in the present.

The video, called "Is Anybody Listening?" featured the emotional testimony of several students talking about the hardships their families endured after a foreclosure or layoff. This week, during his visit to California, President Obama showed that someone is listening: He dropped in on the class.

His stay lasted only four minutes, but students told NBC-Los Angeles they were happy.

"Just knowing he's paying attention to our issues and problems is great, although we have a lot of work to do before change will come," student Sonya Stewart told the station.

Source: HispanicBusiness.com (c) 2009. All rights reserved.