Michelle Obama Kicks-off Women's History Month in D.C. Schools

First Lady Michelle Obama has long hoped to gather an “amazing group of women” to help inspire young people to do well in school to prosper as adults. She had her chance this week as she visited Anacostia High School in the capital, a struggling school in a poor D.C. neighborhood, and 21 other famous women visited schools around the country.

Michelle Obama at Anacostia High School (via New York Times)

Mrs. Obama recruited the likes of Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, Alfre Woodard, Bobbi Brown, as well as former astronaut Mae Jemison and the Army’s first female four-star general, Gen. Ann Dunwoody, to participate in this Women’s History Month initiative at both public and private schools.

As would be expected from our newest First Lady, Mrs. Obama casually spent time with 13 junior and senior level female students at Anacostia. When asked “How did you get where you are now?” by one student, she reminded that “there’s no magic to being here. What I want you to know is that my parents were working-class people.” She gave her own educational background, including public school, and shared that she wasn’t popular but always prided herself in earning good grades.
She continued, “I wanted to be the person who had the right answer and I didn’t care whether it was cool,” Mrs. Obama said. “I remember there were kids around my neighborhood who would say, ‘Ooo, you talk like a white girl.’ I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, ‘I don’t even know what that means.’ But you know what? I’m still getting my A’s.”
(via New York Times)