We recently received a pleasant surprise in Senator Warner’s incoming mail: a bunch of handwritten thank you notes from more than a dozen students at William Monroe Middle School in Greene County.

Senator Warner visited with William Monroe Middle School students last fall.

The students visited the U.S. Capitol on National History Day last fall with their librarian and teacher, Mary Craig. “After we met with you, we went to the Senate Gallery… It was a very exciting event for our students, and we enjoyed our visit with you,” Ms. Craig wrote in her cover letter.

The student letters themselves are remarkable. They are brief, extremely neat and unfailingly polite:

• “I didn’t know we were in debt by $14 trillion! I asked my mom why that was, and she said it was because we just keep printing money… I thank you for trying to resolve the debt issue because I don’t know what I’d do with $14 trillion in debt on my back.”
• “I learned about lots of things, like the massive debt and China’s currency issues. I’ve always wanted to meet a senator, and I did thanks to you.”

We’re not sure about everything Senator Warner may have spoken about with the student group, but he must have mentioned his work in the business world during the early days of the cellular phone industry:

• “When I heard that you created Nextel I was surprised to see that you could do that and then become a senator and before that a governor.”
• “I Googled and learned what Nextel is!”
• "I thought it was cool and bad how we owe 14 trillion dollars! Also, I thought it was cool that you created Sprint!”

And at least one of the Greene County students is a huge Virginia Tech fan, because each word in her handwritten letter alternated between Tech’s colors of orange and maroon. And her letter ended with this bit of Virginia Tech art: