Faculty, friends and students of Millard Fillmore Middle School:

First of all, I would like to thank you all for accepting me into your hearts and lives, even though I recently transferred from Turnerville.

In order to get better acquainted with the good people of Millard Fillmore, I took a listening tour of the gymnasium. I met a soccer coach who said the team needed new cleats and soccer balls. I spoke to a sixth grader who wondered about his future, and if an eighth grade dance were in store for him.

I have heard countless stories, in the locker room, at first base in kickball and under the bleachers, where I was making a perfectly legal investment in high-yield Pokemon cards. These stories have been real; they have touched me.

Some of you have asked me, don't you go to Turnerville? But many more have inquired, what is this election about? Well, it is about Bobby Yusinski, the boy in sixth grade I met, who still doesn't know how to tie his shoes. It is about the kid with the headgear, who nobody will talk to, just because he drools on himself. It is about Samantha Dorfman, Melissa Nichols and Tammi Winters, the seventh graders I talked to who have a mad crush on Billy Swift. Oh, wait... was I not supposed to say that? In closing, let me remind you that it takes a homeroom to raise a seventh-grader, so get to class on time!