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WASHINGTON - When President-elect Obama takes the oath of office, he'll receive more than 25,000 handwritten letters of advice from students across the country.

Handwriting Without Tears, a nationally recognized writing curriculum, organized the program and a bunch of students in Arlington put their advice on paper for the nation's next president.

"He could try to end the war, lower gas prices and taxes," said Billy Long. Diego Gomez said, "Get rid of global warming and help the economy." Second graders at Claremont Elementary in Arlington had plenty of advice for President-elect Obama. "If he wants to get a dog, I gave him some ideas," said Gabriella Canzain.

Marilyn Hanger's students are among thousands of other elementary students across the country practicing their writing skills. "Giving them a real example from life in order to use their handwriting is very motivating. You could see that they were working at their best handwriting. They were trying to make sure that all of their periods and capitals were in place," said Marilyn Hanger, Claremont Elementary School teacher.

The program is called Mail to the Chief. It allows students to work on their handwriting proficiency. "I took my time with it. I spelled as hard as I could and I just memorized it," said Shawn Baker.

Studies show children with good handwriting feel more confident and are proud of their work. "I'm going to be an author. I'm going to write a book and I'm writing this because I think people should be able to choose whatever job they want," said Lucinda Rissmeyer.

The letters will be hand delivered on January 23rd, right after inauguration - which is also National Handwriting Day. But before the letters are sent off, students made sure they signed their best John Hancock.

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