First-Grader Sent Flat Stanley to Barack Obama in 2011. 13 Years Later, She Goes Viral for Sharing His Reply (Exclusive)

The White House reply was the talk of Kristina Sumolang's 1st grade classroom

• Kristina Sumolang read Flat Stanley with her 1st grade class in 2011

• While classmates picked friends and family members who lived far away to send the token to, Sumolang talked to her family and decided to send it to then-President Barack Obama
  

• Sumolang tells PEOPLE what it meant to her to get a letter back from the White House
  

Kristina Sumolang was a 1st grader in 2011 when her class read a Flat Stanley book together. The main character gets crushed by a bulletin board and becomes flat, able to go anywhere and do anything.

"They'd send him off on cool trips. So the whole idea of the project was to send our Flat Stanley to somebody who lives far away, whether that was a family member or a friend or whoever," Sumolang, now 20, tells PEOPLE. "At the time, I had no idea who I would send it to because I didn't have many friends or family members who lived in cool places or traveled much."

She continues, "I was talking to my dad about it and he was like, 'Why don't we send it to President Obama?' because he was in the White House at the time, and I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "

Sumolang moved ahead with sending her Flat Stanley to the White House. A few weeks later, her teacher got a piece of mail that "made her literally gasp."

"I remember being in the classroom and she was like, 'Oh my gosh, Kristina! We got a letter from the White House.' "

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Sumolang says she "remembers so vividly" how "excited" she and her classmates were.

"It came in this nice manila envelope, First Class. It was so cool and I remember everyone was so excited. The letter had worksheets and a letter from President Obama. I got to take it home since it was my Flat Stanley, and I've always kept it," she shares.

After spotting it among some of her old mementos recently, Sumolang decided to share her story on TikTok.

"I'm in college now so it made me reminisce and feel a little nostalgia. It was nice to see people have the Flat Stanley project as this shared experience. I just remember being so excited as a 1st grader to receive that letter. So I definitely wanted to feel nostalgic, in a way, and share that feeling," she tells PEOPLE.

She wasn't expecting the simple video to get so much attention.

"Once I posted it, it blew up, which was really cool to see. Everyone shared their own stories with their Flat Stanleys. A few other people did the exact same thing, so I thought that was really cool."

"Other people who did it received a similar version of the letter from President Obama, which was fun to see," she adds. "The feedback was all super positive. People understood what it's like to feel heard for a little kid by a responsive, important person. That was super, super special."

Having just moved to a new hometown that year, the memory is extra special for Sumolang, who says her classmates had a "really great reaction" to the exciting moment.

"Looking back now, it was really sweet. It's nice to know some adults cared about you and what you were doing when you were a kid, especially someone like the president."

She continues, "At that young age, it meant a lot to be recognized. You feel super cool and I never forgot it. I'm 20 and even though it was so long ago, I still feel like it made a huge impact for a little school project. It definitely made an impact on me and now as someone who has grown up, it's still something I'm proud to share."

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