Hunter Maclean, who graduated from Marian High School in May, stands next to a world map depicting the countries that have responded to her project, during which she wrote every head of state in the world asking for advice for America’s teenagers.Marian alum writes letters to heads of 195 states, receives encouraging responses
BLOOMFIELD HILLS — On Friday, Aug. 5, millions of people from around the world were glued to their televisions, watching the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as athletes from 207 nations paraded around Maracana Stadium.
While most people probably can’t rattle off all 207 participating countries, Marian High School alum Hunter Maclean probably can. In fact, chances are she wrote them a letter not too long ago.
Maclean, who’s about to start her freshman year at Colgate University in Hamilton Village, N.Y., undertook the geography project that tops just about all other geography projects — she wrote a letter to the leaders of all 195 independent states recognized by the U.S. Department of State.
Yes, 195 letters to 195 different countries. That’s a project that takes a lot of stamps, and even more persistence.
“I was taking the driver’s test with the instructor, and he was asking about a subject, current politics, and I found out through research I didn’t know a lot about world leaders,” Maclean said in an interview with The Michigan Catholic.
Seeking to know more about the world, Maclean decided to write to every world leader and ask a simple question: “What would you like to tell the youth of America?”
“It took me a while to find the contact information for all 195 countries,” Maclean said. “I went to the CIA site, and a lot of information wasn’t up to date. Every country has an official website, so I went there, and through trial and error I went through until I found the proper address.”
Maclean sent out her first batch of letters in the spring of 2015, and then the waiting began.
For three weeks, Maclean waited for a response, until finally she got one from Paris, from the office of Francois Hollande, president of the Republic of France.
“France was the first to respond, and I was super excited,” Maclean said. “The president of France replied to a teenager in the United States; that world leaders in countries responded back to me.”
Since she started her campaign, Maclean has received 40 replies, chronicling the responses on her website, www.dearworldleader.com, including a “creative” response from His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae of New Zealand, who told Maclean the proper way to spell the country’s name instead of Maclean’s harmless typo “Zeeland.”
“The responses have been a mix of acknowledgements and actual responses, some were really extravagant,” Maclean said. “Estonia was my favorite; I learned so much about them and how advanced they are. Also, the one from President Obama, that was really cool.”
Maclean will be a Benton Scholar at Colgate, a new program where students spend a good amount of time studying abroad. She plans on studying international relations and law, hoping one day she’ll get a job with the U.S. Department of State.
“All these countries want us to know how open, advanced they are,” Maclean said. “All are trying to be as kind as possible. My friends love the project so much, they think it’s so crazy I wrote all these world leaders and that they responded.”
Maclean said her friends and teachers have been supportive of the project, which her social studies teacher, Kristen Roland, said was one of the ambitious student projects she’s ever seen.
“Hunter has impressed me since she was in the ninth grade, so if any student would do it, it would be Hunter,” Roland said. “As a sophomore, she participated in a march for Martin Luther King Jr.; she’s always been a woman of action. In my entire teaching career, I’ve never seen a something so comprehensive as this project.”
As more and more responses roll in, and Maclean begins her academic career at Colgate, she’s had some time to take into perspective all the responses she’s received from world leaders regarding what they’d like the youth of America to know, and she, too, has a response to her own question.
“I would like the youth of the United States to be more open to travel, more involved with international relations,” Maclean said. “There is so much going on in the world, and it all affects us, it’s all connected.
Having taken an interest in them and them in me, I now feel more personally connected to places around the world, some I honestly hadn’t really thought about before.”
Dear World Leader….
Visit www.dearworldleader.com to learn more about Hunter’s project, see the responses she’s received and what lessons she’s taken away from the heads of state who have responded to her.
