My First Letter

In 2024, Pernambuco once again stood out in the Brazilian educational landscape, ranking third in the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) among the country’s 27 states. Despite the progress, school dropout rates, especially among students over 18 years old, remain a significant challenge. Combating this issue is a priority for the state government. Briefing: In this context, the State Government requested an end-of-year campaign to highlight the transformative impact of education on people’s lives and society. The goal was to move away from traditional Christmas campaigns and create a unique narrative aligned with the government’s 2024 focus: investing in education and combating school dropouts. Idea: During brainstorming and research, we discovered the story of Maria Edelzuita, a 95-year-old woman from Pernambuco. She is recognized as the world’s oldest student, surpassing the previous record holder, Kenyan Kimani Maruge Ng’ang’a, by 10 years. Maria Edelzuita began studying at the age of 93, driven by her dream of learning to read and write, a right she was denied in childhood. Although she couldn’t study herself, she prioritized the education of her nine children, all of whom graduated from high school. Inspired by her incredible story, we came up with the idea: “Let’s have Maria Edelzuita write her first letter to Santa Claus at the age of 95.” Execution and Results: We produced a film where Maria Edelzuita writes her first letter to Santa Claus, sharing her life story and the significance of achieving her dream of literacy. The film aired on Christmas Eve 2024 and was widely shared on social media, becoming one of the most shared videos in the country with millions of views and shares. It reached the trending topics on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on the same day. The campaign generated a significant increase in enrollments for the EJA program in 2025, particularly among elderly participants. Additionally, Maria Edelzuita’s story inspired educational inclusion projects at several universities nationwide, fostering new initiatives focused on supporting young and adult students.