Boston Kids Featured in Inaugural Video

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo - Boston) - "Mr. President..."

"Mr. President I want you to hear me."

"I'm going to vote in eleven years."

"...in the next election."

"I will be voting in 13 years..." said several local students in the national video "Hear Our Voice: A Children's Youth Inaugural Address."

It's a direct message to the President that Hyde Park students, ranging in age from 5 to 17, hope President Obama will take to heart this Inauguration Weekend.

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Streat, a sophomore at the Academy of the Pacific Rim in Hyde Park, said in the video, "Families should be able to pay for college but not have to drain other funds such as mortgage bills, car insurance, etc."

"Health care and how it should be available to everyone," said fellow APR sophomore Kaylah Fernandez about what she wanted to talk about on the video.

Affordable health care, higher education costs and the school lunch program are all topics these students from two of the city's charter schools, along with some students from New York, are hoping the President will tackle in his second term.

Students from both the Academy of the Pacific Rim and the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School were invited to be a part of the National Children's Inaugural Address, which will be played at several Inaugural balls.

"It made me think about what I really wanted to see change and what I wanted to happen," Fernandez said.

"It was very exciting to think that I would be seen by the President and to know that he would hear my voice," Streat said.

"He's a really nice guy, even though I haven't met him, I pretty sure he is," said 11-year-old Anthony Lopes, a fifth grader at the BRCP.

And even though these students know President Obama has a lot to deal with, they are confident their voices will be heard because they believe the President sees the value in listening to the next generation.

"I feel like if he listens to us it'll be easier for us to make the future a lot better and even though he's doing a lot of work right now, that work will definitely be progressed and more accomplished," APR senior Marcus Vilme, 17, said.

"I think that he's actually going to listen because we have a lot to say and we're not going to go unheard," said 12-year-old Mikaela Martin, a sixth grader at BRCP.

The video ends with one student saying, "Thank you for listening Mr. President."

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