A letter from President-Elect Donald Trump arrived at West Jordan Middle School addressed to seventh-grader JJ Tonga.

“I wrote to Donald Trump because my dad's a supporter of him,” JJ said.

JJ had asked Trump for advice for his future plans to become an architect or be in the NFL. The letter advised him to start working early to earn money for college.

JJ was thrilled to get the response.

“I like him even more because he had to take the time to write me a letter,” JJ said.

Writing the letter was a class assignment given by his English teacher Amy Geilman, to write a letter to a famous person they admire. Other letters were sent to author Brandon Sanderson, athletes Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and sports teams BYU football and the Utah Jazz.

“I think that personal connection is what matters, and I hope what it does is make kids excited to recognize that their writing can connect them to other people,” Geilman said. 

On average, about 15% of students each year receive a response to their letter.

“In a good year, we get 20-25 letters back, and I have about 160 students, so it's not as many as we would like,” Geilman said. “But when they do get one, it's pretty exciting.” 

The letters were mailed mid-September and by mid-November, six students had received a reply.

“Responses will trickle in all year long,” Geilman said. Some letters have even arrived after the student has moved on to eighth grade.

In the past, students have written to and received answers from actors, musicians, athletes, authors and politicians such as Queen Elizabeth II, Billie Eilish, Jimmer Fredette and Bill Gates. When students don’t have a celebrity they admire, they have written letters to the heads of companies that make their favorite cookies or video games.

Geilman has given this assignment at the beginning of each school year for the past 20 years because it gives her a baseline of the students’ writing skills. It also introduces students to real world writing and a more formal context most are not familiar with.

“Everything on text and email can tend to be so informal, so it's good for them to have a chance to recognize formal writing,” Geilman said.

Students also learn social etiquette.

“We talk about how to write a letter and how to present yourself in writing to someone you don't know, so it gives me a good chance to talk about tone and situational awareness,” Geilman said.

Students are instructed to not ask for anything in their letter, however sometimes the recipient will send signed photos, decals, posters, and in past years, CDs. A student this year sent a letter to the San Francisco 49ers and received a team yearbook, posters and decals.

Geilman said sometimes it’s a challenge to find the mailing address for people and some letters come back undeliverable.

“I try to let the kids know that if the person they're writing to is only famous on the internet—a YouTuber or an Instagramer—it's going to be hard for me to find an address,” Geilman said. 

She said if she can find the person’s publisher, agent or college affiliation, it’s easier to get the letter to the right person.

Politicians and athletes tend to respond to the letters, and certain celebrities are better about writing back than others—Adam Sandler and Chris Pratt consistently respond with autographed pictures. 

The assignment has evolved over the past two decades. Before students had regular access to computers, the letters were written and addressed by hand. Now, they are typed by the student and addressed by Geilman, who said students don’t know how to address an envelope anymore. However, the novelty of the assignment, and the way it engages students, hasn’t changed.

“Whenever somebody gets a letter, everybody's all super excited,” Geilman said.