Offering Gifts of Goodwill

Dear (World Leader), I’m a student at (school name). I’m writing because (state reason.).

Every year, whether it’s a letter to the vice president calling for an end to rain forest destruction, or a note to the governor asking for more computers, public school kids pen pleading missives to government leaders. And every year, they get cordial mass-produced form letters right back.

Few dream of the response that a group of Laguna Beach middle-schoolers recently received from the first lady of Panama.

Back in December, teacher David Dixon’s Spanish I students, fresh from a lesson about Panama, wrote the country’s officials with best wishes for the canal hand-over. They also hit up their parents and peers for enough money to buy the country a palm tree with a nice plaque for the canal zone.

But no form letters with a Panamanian post mark arrived at Thurston Middle School. Instead, President Mireya Moscoso proposed that her sister, the first lady, accept the palm tree in person. First Lady Ruby Moscoso de Young and a handful of dignitaries will pick up the goodwill gift when they visit the school today.

The impending visit is teaching the Laguna Beach adolescents about more than geography and history, said Principal Ron LaMotte. They’re also getting a lesson in diplomacy and an individual’s ability to effect change.

“Kids do make a difference, and one letter can change things,” LaMotte said. “They’re great ambassadors.”

At their teacher’s urging, the students wrote Moscoso after learning that President Clinton would not attend December’s historic canal transfer, amid conservative criticisms that Panama might mismanage the vital passageway.

Affronted, the kids offered their support and goodwill. They displayed the depth of their knowledge of all things Panamanian: The canal employs a series of locks to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; the capital is home to more than 100 banks; and about 2.5 million people live in the country. And they offered suggestions for what to do with Ft. Clayton, the U.S.’ last military post in Panama (converting it to a history museum, conference center or an animal refuge).

Seventh-grader Alana Braun thinks the president may have been impressed by the content of the letters.”Most kids don’t know what’s going on in their own country,” the 12-year-old said. “So maybe it was odd that we know what’s going on in their country.”

Added classmate Billy O’Hare, 12: “Not many schools did this. I think [the president] saw that we really cared. But I don’t think any of us really expected much. When you write to a president or a big person, you don’t even expect them to write back. . . . It’s kind of shocking.”

But Panamanian officials offered a different explanation.

“The new president of Panama wants to be more open to the world, especially the kids,” said Fernando Daly, the consul general of Panama in the Los Angeles area, who personally delivered the students’ letters to Moscoso. “If 150 students from another country write you, you feel, ‘Wow.’ She was very happy.”

While at the seaside middle school, Moscoso de Young and her companions will walk through a tunnel of the two nations’ flags, hear the school’s band and chorus perform the Panamanian national anthem, and tour the campus. Most important to teacher Dixon, the first lady will chat face-to-face with the Spanish class.

“I would have been thrilled with a form letter,” admitted Dixon, who has had his students write “Dear World Leader” letters before with less exciting results. “That’s what I was expecting, and I would have mimeographed it for each student. A lot of times you don’t hear anything. I think it’s amazing for them to be so generous with their time.”

The first lady will also give a commendation to famed Panamanian jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. at Santa Anita Park during her visit.