First Lady Michelle Obama told students Tuesday that meeting the 2020 goal is important, but their personal success is just as significant.
Michelle Obama spoke to students Tuesday at Bell Multicultural High School just a few miles from the White House. Officials say the event is part of what will be a broader focus for the first lady on getting students especially those in underserved communities on track to attend college.
The first lady told students that meeting the 2020 goal is important, but their personal success is just as significant.
“No matter what the president does, no matter what your teachers and principals do, or whatever is going on in your home or neighborhood, the person with the biggest impact on your education is you,” Michelle Obama said. “It’s going to take young people like all of you across the country stepping up and taking control of your education.”
Michelle Obama also drew from her own experience as she encouraged students at the high school with a large immigrant population to attend college. She said neither of her parents went to college, but they had an “unwavering belief in the power of education.”
The first lady said she attended one of the best high schools in Chicago across town that required her to wake up at 6 a.m. and travel at least an hour on the bus. Mrs. Obama, who grew up in a working class family, went on to Princeton University and Harvard Law School. But not before facing discouragement as she applied to Princeton, an Ivy League university.
“Some of my teachers straight up told me that I was setting my sights too high. They told me I was never going to get into a school like Princeton,” she said to a hushed crowd of 10th graders. “It was clear to me that nobody was going to take my hand and lead me to where I needed to go; instead it was going to be up to me to reach my goals.”
