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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the First Lady ____________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release June 3, 2009
REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY AT THE WASHINGTON MATH AND SCIENCE TECHPUBLIC CHARTERHIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
Howard UniversityWashington, D.C.
11:25 A.M. EDTMRS. OBAMA: Yay! (Applause.) Thank you! Congratulations, Classof 2009! (Applause.) All right, this is exciting, right? Nothing moreexciting, right? We're so proud of you. I'm delighted to be here.I want to just thank Jasmine for that lovely introduction and for herinvitation to me to come here. I want to thank -- (applause) -- thankyou, Jasmine. (Applause.) I want to thank Principal Holbrook and thestaff, the faculty, all the trustees, all our elected officials. I want tothank the grandmas, the moms, the dads, the uncles, the aunts, thecousins, everybody who helped get these graduates where they aretoday. (Applause.)And I want to especially congratulate Valedictorian Jaren Davis andto Salutatorian Rosmer Portillo on their tremendous achievements.(Applause.) But you all have achieved so much. This is just one of many important milestones that you will hit. And I'm glad to be here. And I'm here because Jasmine invited me -- (laughter) -- but I got alot of invitations to speak at commencements this year. More than Idid last year. (Laughter.) But I only chose two, and I only chose twobecause as you know, I'm a working mother and I've got kids, so I tryto balance what I do. So it was really important to me that I pick
 
schools that I really believed in. And I knew I wanted to speak at aD.C. public high school because I wanted to celebrate theachievements of young people in my new home town. (Applause.) And I hadn't chosen one, and then my office received this beautifulletter from Jasmine. And part of what she said was this: "On June 3rd,2009, we will stop being kids who grew up in the city of Washington,D.C. We will become adults who will be faced with some of the hardestchallenges since 1932. We will be put to the test to see if we canwithstand the challenges of today's world. This test has no guidelinesor study guides on how to pass. We will have to rely on the commonsense given to us by our families, the toughness we learned growingup in the conditions that we did, and the timeless creed that sums upthe spirit of a people: Yes We Can." (Applause.) That's what Jasminewrote. So because of those words, Jasmine, I'm here today to tell you thatyou're absolutely right -- that with common sense, hard work,confidence and faith, you can achieve anything you set your minds to,that's for sure. And today is just the beginning. And while we sit hereand we celebrate, this is just the beginning, and it should be just thebeginning. Your life doesn't end here; it starts here. And when I look out at you all, I get tears in my eyes because I thinkabout sitting in your seats just a few years ago in my cap and gown.Whitney Young was a magnet public school, so I was a public schoolgraduate, as well. And I was excited like you were because I hadgotten into Princeton University. I was excited! (Applause.) I was firedup. I didn't get the kind of money you all got -- (laughter) -- but I wasexcited. But I was also worried. I was worried about whether or not I wasready, whether or not I would fit in. And I have realized since then thatI probably wasn't alone in my fears, in my worries.And then I read this story of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. I don't know if you know about this phenomenal woman, but the President -- she's the
 
President's nominee for the Supreme Court -- (applause) -- and she'sthe first Hispanic woman to be considered for the position. The first.And she went to Princeton. And in this story she said that when shearrived at Princeton as a freshman -- and this was nine years before Iwould even think about going -- she said when she stepped on thatcampus, she said -- and this is a quote -- she said she felt like "a visitorlanding in an alien country." (Laughter.) And she said she neverraised her hand her first year because -- and this is a quote -- she "wastoo embarrassed and too intimidated to ask questions."So despite all of her success at Princeton -- and then she went on to Yale Law School where she was at the top of her class, in both schools-- and despite all of her professional accomplishments, JudgeSotomayor says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if shemeasures up. And when I read her story, I understood exactly how she feels. AndI understood what it must have been like for her to step on thatcampus despite these nagging voices that sometimes rumble aroundin your head. And for me, the voices came from people who at firsttold me, don't bother applying to Princeton, not a school like that --because they said I'd never get in. Then when I got in, they told me not to go because I wouldn't beable to compete against students who would be more prepared. Andthen when I decided to attend, they told me that I shouldn't go to aschool so far away from home because I would have a hard timemaking friends; I would feel out of place and I wouldn't make itthrough. Voices of people sowing seeds of doubt in my head. And now that I look back, I realize that despite my confidentexterior -- because all you all have it, right; you're confident, and I was,too -- there was a part of me that started to believe the doubters. Istarted to believe people. They were getting into my head. There wasa part of me that began to doubt my own abilities and to ignore myown truth; what I knew to be true about me.
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desangles

I think you are more than a First Lady. You are an inspiration to all women of the world. Proud to be American. Kenya Desangles

reply06 / 04 / 2009
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