Dear Mr. President

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Augusta Chronicle invited students to write letters to President-elect Obama detailing what they would like him to do as president. Selected letters are being printed in The Chronicle and posted online at augustachronicle.com/president.

Grand-prize winners in the elementary, middle and high school divisions will be published Sunday through Tuesday.

Dear President-elect Obama,

I am pleased to congratulate you on your victorious win in November. My family voted for you because of their future and mine. I am a high school junior at Lakeside High School in Evans, Ga. All throughout my 11 years and more in school, I have volunteered and seen my community grow. But with this economic crisis arising in Main and Wall Street, a horror has arisen in my eyes as a student. How will my family pay for me to go to college? My parents moved here for a better education for themselves and their children and now they are afraid of not being able to send their youngest child to college. Sir, as the president of the United States of America, the country that allows every single child to have a future, I would like to see more scholarship opportunities arise for the middle and lower class and a strong approach in the education system. My fellow students and I are going to be the first people to step into reality after this recession and possible depression. We have to have the strong, college-based knowledge to help make sure our children have a place to live and work in. I have had the great opportunity to go to school in a fantastic school with a fantastic system but it's not the same all around the United States. It is up to you to make sure that children in North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon have the same chances as the children in Evans, Ga., and other places. Our country's foundation has been shaken and may be a bit broken, but the future generations of Americans -- the children -- have the chance to fix that. And a better education system will help us do that. Again, I congratulate you on your win in November and I wish you the best.

Amala Sarvepalli, Junior, Lakeside High School, Evans