Remarks by the First Lady at LULAC Unity Luncheon

New York Hilton
New York, New York

1:36 P.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, my goodness.  (Applause.)  Thank you, everyone.  Let’s give our love to Jennifer Lopez.  Thank you so much for that kind introduction.  (Applause.)

Good afternoon, everyone.  How are you all doing?  (Applause.)  It is my honor and pleasure to be here today.  I want to again thank Jennifer for that very kind introduction and for all of her amazing work to lift up our young people every single day.  She is truly an amazing woman, and I am so very proud of all of her work.

I also want to recognize LULAC President Margaret Moran, as well as your Executive Director, Brent Wilkes.  Yes!  Give them a round of applause.  (Applause.)  

Most of all, I want to thank all of you -- the activists, the community leader, the business, labor, and government officials.  We have our high school and college students here -- (applause) -- who are the heart and soul of this organization.  Yes, indeed!  (Applause.)  Where are my young people?  Where are you all?  (Applause.)  Yes.  So proud of you.  So proud.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We are, too.

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes, we all are proud of you.  You all are making such a huge difference for your communities.  You’re working to improve health outcomes, you’re registering folks to vote and signing them up for health insurance, you’re organizing around issues like housing, financial empowerment, and civil rights.  And the vast majority of you are not paid.  So you’re doing all of this after a long day of work or school.  You’re running off to a meeting after you cook dinner.  You’re giving up your weekends and holidays to host events. 

And you’re doing it all because you know that if you give just a little bit of your time and energy, and convince more folks to do the same, you can truly do your part to create a better future for our next generation.  And perhaps more than anything else, that is LULAC’s history.

Just think about the story of one of this organization’s former leaders, a man named Felix Tijerina.  (Applause.)  Felix was born to Mexican migrant farmworkers in 1905, and never got a formal education himself because he spent his childhood picking cotton in South Texas and washing dishes in a restaurant in Houston.  Like so many in your community, Felix was smart and he taught himself enough English words and phrases to work his way out of the dish room.  And by the time he was 50, he owned a total of four restaurants across the Houston area.  (Applause.) 

But just being a successful businessman wasn’t enough for Felix.  He’d heard that many Latino children were dropping out of school before the end of the first grade because they struggled with English and couldn’t catch up.  Now, Felix knew this trouble from his own life.  And when he became LULAC’s national president, he launched a pilot project to help these kids. 

He hired a young woman to teach a class of Latino preschoolers five or ten English words a day, so that by the end of the summer they knew about 400 words.  A year later, the project expanded to nine more communities.  There was no money for salaries, so Felix paid the teachers himself.  And when the schools ran into debt, he paid off that debt, too. 

Eventually, Felix and LULAC convinced the State of Texas to fund these schools that would be known as the “Little Schools of the 400.”  And in 1965, these Little Schools went on to inspire President Johnson to launch the Head Start program –- a program that you know now serves more than a million children every year.  (Applause.) 

Felix’s story is the story of that tenacious pursuit of the American Dream, that unyielding focus on lifting up the next generation through education.  That has always been the story of this organization. 

In the 1930s and ‘40s when many Latino schoolchildren were sent to places referred to as “Mexican schools” -- tiny one-room shacks with little or no ventilation or running water –- it was LULAC who took those school boards to court, helping to set the stage for Brown v. Board of Education a decade later.  (Applause.)  

In the 1970s, this organization created a network of National Education Service Centers to provide young people with educational counseling, mentorship, and leadership development.  And today, you’re providing more than a million dollars in college scholarships to promising students every year.  (Applause.)  This is an extraordinary legacy. 

And while I know you all are incredibly proud of everything you’ve achieved, I also know that you are not satisfied -- not by a longshot.  And that is why you are here today. 

You’re here because, in the face of so many challenges and obstacles, you’re still asking yourselves the hard questions:  How are we going to lift up our children and grandchildren and improve their educational outcomes?  You’re asking, how will we instill in them that hunger for education that drove so many people before us -- folks who came to this country in search of a better life and worked hard to seize that American Dream for themselves and their families?

Because the truth is that right now there are still too many young people in this country who aren’t getting the education they need -- an education that goes beyond high school.  The reality in today’s economy is that education is essential to getting a good job.  So our young people must understand that a college degree or some kind of professional training is an absolute necessity.

But as you know, too many young people in the Latino community simply aren’t fulfilling their potential.  Just listen to some of the statistics.  A while we’re thrilled that Latino high school graduation rates have reached a record high, they’re still lower than almost every other group.  And when it comes to college, regardless of their test scores and GPAs entering school, Latinos are far more likely to drop out than their white counterparts.  And fewer than 15 percent of Latinos over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree -- a rate that trails blacks, whites, and Asians. 

So those are some pretty sobering numbers.  And maybe there are those who believe that this isn’t the most pressing issue, or who hear those statistics and think, “Well, I’m not part of that problem.  I’ve got my degree, or at least I’m on track to get it, so I’ve done my part.” 

But that’s not how somebody like Felix would think.  See, he’d be thinking about the millions of kids who aren’t on track to get any kind of degree.  He’d be worrying about what’s going on in their lives, what’s going to happen to them and their families.  And right now, we all have got to think like that, too -- every single one of us. 

Now, I know that education is one of so many pressing issues on your plates right now.  And with a broken immigration system hurting so many of our families and neighbors -- (applause) -- some of you may be wondering why I decided to focus on education today.  But what I know from my own life experiences, is that if we truly want to lift up our next generation, we must tackle all of these challenges at the same time.  And that is actually one of the greatest lessons of LULAC’s history. 

LULAC initially formed back in 1929 in response to horrific violations of Latino civil rights.  Back then, Latinos were being brutalized and killed by police and lynched by the KKK.  “No Mexicans Allowed” signs hung outside of restaurants and storefronts.  Latinos often couldn’t own property or serve on a jury.  And if you walked into a public building, you’d often see not two water fountains, but three -- one white, one black, and one brown.

But LULAC didn’t just focus on these pressing crises; all along, they were investing in education too.  Yes, those early leaders traveled from town to town to organize local councils to right those injustices, once being run out of town at gunpoint.  And they rallied the Latino vote, even in the face of poll taxes and voter intimidation.  But they also sued to desegregate their schools.  They also organized parents into neighborhood committees, launched boycotts to protest terrible learning conditions for their children.  They sold tamales and held dances to raise scholarship money. 

So make no mistake about it, we have to keep on fighting as hard as we can on immigration.  (Applause.)  And as my husband has said, he’s going to do whatever administrative action it takes to fix this broken system.  (Applause.)  

But we cannot afford to wait on Congress to lift up our next generation.  We can’t afford to wait on anybody when it comes to our kids’ future.  Your grandparents and parents didn’t wait for opportunities to come to them.  No, they packed up their families and moved to this country for a better life.  Felix didn’t wait for Texas to set up a program to teach kids English.  No, he hired those teachers himself. 

So today, we have got to live up to those examples and reignite that hunger for opportunity -- that hunger for education –- across all of our communities.  And we all have a role to play in this endeavor.  Parents have to be reading to their kids from an early age and making sure they go to school every day and do their homework every night.  Our young people, you have a role to play as well.  You have to make education your number-one priority and be role models for those around you.  (Applause.)

So if you have a friend, a sibling, a classmate who is not taking school seriously, if you know someone who’s not planning to go on past high school, I want you to reach out to them and convince them that their future depends on getting a good education.  And all of us, we must look around our communities and start asking some important questions, like does the local high school offer enough AP classes for our kids?  Does the library offer a summer reading program?  Do the community groups and churches give enough scholarships to our kids?  Do the overworked school counselors have enough time to help kids apply to college? 

And if the answer to any of these questions is no, then we’ve got work to do -- because we have got to encourage every one of our kids to dream big.  And then we have got to shower them with love and support and resources as they strive for those dreams.

And that’s what my Reach Higher initiative is all about.  We’re trying to inspire every young person in this country to complete their education beyond high school -- whether that’s a community college, a four-year university, or a professional training program.  And we’re urging businesses and nonprofits, schools and universities, state and local governments to find new ways to support our young people on this journey.

And believe me, this effort is personal to me.  See, my parents never finished college, but they always told my brother and me that education was our ticket to success.  And they worked, and sacrificed, and saved every penny so they could send us to college.  (Applause.)  And no matter what they were dealing with in their lives, whether it was health issues or any number of other problems, they kept those issues to themselves because they didn’t want to distract us from getting our degrees. 

And I know how hard that can be for parents to let their kids go, especially for families who are up against even more challenges than mine ever was -- folks who are just barely making ends meet.  So they need their kids working part-time jobs to help pay the bills; they need them around to help take care of their siblings. 

And those are crucial issues, and nothing is more important than taking care of family.  But we need every parent to understand that the most important thing any child can do for themselves and their loved ones is to get an education.  That’s how they can ensure that they’ll truly be able to take care of their families.  That was certainly true for my family.  And today, my mom doesn’t have to worry about a thing, because my brother and I, we got our degrees.  (Applause.)  We achieved financial stability, and now we can take care of her. 

And that story can be true for families all across the country.  And the young people in this room are perfect examples.  Take the story of a DREAMer, Emma Chalott.  Emma is here.  Yay for Emma.  (Applause.)  Emma and her family moved to Dallas from Mexico in 2003 when she was just seven years old.  And for years, she struggled to adjust to the new language and customs.  But when she entered high school, Emma joined her school’s LULAC council.  She obtained her deferred action status, and then volunteered in the community to help other young people request theirs as well. 

This spring, Emma graduated from high school with honors, and in the fall she’ll be enrolled at Austin College, where she’s earned enough scholarships and grants to graduate debt-free.  (Applause.)  Yes!  Looking back on her journey, Emma realized that she didn’t do this all on her own.  She had the backing of LULAC and her teachers and counselors.  But most of all, she had the support of loving parents who helped her believe she could succeed. 

So for Emma, living out the American Dream by getting an outstanding education isn’t just an aspiration; it’s an expectation.  And she says that the real pressure is real in that -- the pressure to live up to the hopes and dreams of those around her.  But listen to what Emma says about the pressure. She says, “It’s not a burden at all.”  She says, “It’s a blessing.”  Yes -- a blessing.  This 18-year-old understands the opportunities we have here in this country.  And we are all so blessed. 

We’re blessed by the sacrifice and hard work of all those who paved the way for us -- the parents and grandparents who risked everything to come to this country; the folks who washed dishes and worked in the fields; the folks who were run out of town trying to organize their communities.  They’ve blessed us with the opportunities we have today -- opportunities for our kids to go to schools worthy of their promise; opportunities for our young people to finish college; and opportunities for all of us to build a better future for ourselves and our family, regardless of the color of our skin or the language of our parents or grandparents.  (Applause.) We are blessed. 

And to all the young people here, I want you to know that simply having those opportunities is no guarantee of success.  You’ve probably begun to understand that for yourselves already.  Maybe you’re the first in your family to go to college.  Maybe you’re working part-time jobs on the side to even afford college.  Maybe along the way, somebody doubted that you were college material at all.  Maybe they picked on you because of your accent -- because you were striving for something better. 

But in spite of all that, you all are here today as scholarship winners and leaders for your peers and your communities.  And you should be so proud of that success.  And I want you all to take some time and savor it, celebrate a little bit.  But only a little bit.  (Laughter.)  And then I want you to get back to work -- because the truth is, the work of pursuing your dreams is never finished, and it’s never going to be easy.

That’s something that the President and I have seen throughout our lives.  There will always be another challenge around the corner.  There will always be doubters and cynics who tell you to set your sights lower.  And yes, there will always be those fears and anxieties in your own mind -- fears that you’re not good enough or that you just don’t belong on a college campus and shouldn’t even try to get there in the first place.

But my message to all of you today is this:  Instead of letting those fears hold you back, use them -- use them to spur you forward.  When you start to doubt yourself, just buckle down and work harder, and do everything you can in your power to get that education.  Now, that might mean stepping outside of your comfort zone, or even moving far away from your family to get that education.  But that’s how you’ll get the skills you need for the life you dream of -- skills like leadership, and critical thinking, and learning how to thrive in new situations. 

And here’s the thing:  Once you get those skills, no matter what challenges you face, whether in your family or your community or your personal life, you will be able to rise above them.  You will be able to reach back and help others do the same.  That is the power of a good education.  That’s how you can give back. 

That’s how you can help carry forward the dream of folks like Felix and everyone else who built this organization.  That’s how you can continue their legacy of building an even better future for those who come after you.  

And like Emma says, remember that’s a blessing.  And I want you all to move forward with the wind at your backs, and the knowledge that so many people believe in you.  I believe in you.  Your President believes in you.  (Applause.)  And we couldn’t be more inspired by your promise. 

So we cannot wait to see all that you accomplish in the years ahead. 

Thank you, LULAC.  Thank you all for everything you do for this country.  (Applause.)  Keep up the great work.  We have lots to do.  God bless.  And we are there for you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END
1:57 P.M. EDT

Message from First Lady Michelle Obama to the United States-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange

I am pleased to send my warmest greetings to all those gathered at the opening of the fifth round of the United States-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) in Beijing, China.  I would like to send my thanks to President Xi Jinping, Vice Premier Liu Yandong, and the entire Chinese delegation for hosting the United States’ delegation this year.

I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank President Xi, Madame Peng, and the Chinese people for their gracious hospitality during my recent visit to China.  In conversations with Madame Peng – as well as with students, teachers and others from across China – I gained a deep appreciation for the shared aspirations of people in both of our countries.  I saw firsthand the importance of continuing to strengthen the bonds between our peoples – the foundation upon which the U.S.-China relationship is built. 

Over the past five years, we have collaborated on a number of important initiatives.  Through the CPE, our two countries have encouraged Chinese and American women to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers through the Young Scientist Forum.  The Fulbright program and other educational opportunities have helped foster the highest numbers of exchange students and scholars in the history of both our countries.  The NBA Yao School opened in February in Beijing to promote youth development on and off basketball courts, and the NBA will also lead a youth-exchange at the 2014 World Youth Olympic Games in August.  The U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Paralympic Committee and the Special Olympics have continued to forge relationships with their Chinese counterparts to promote access to every level of sport for all people. 

By strengthening the bonds between our two nations, you all are playing a critical role in building our relationship for future generations.  I wish you every success in these efforts, and I hope you have a productive and enjoyable event. 

Remarks by the First Lady to the American School Counselor Association Annual Conference -- Orlando, Florida

The Dolphin Hotel
Orlando, Florida

11:42 A.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes!  (Applause.)  How is everybody feeling today?  (Applause.)  It is really, really my pleasure.  You guys, rest yourselves.  You work hard enough.  (Laughter.)  No need to stand for my remarks.  It is truly a pleasure and an honor to be with you today, so thank you for having me.  Thank you so much. 

Let me start by thanking Shari for that very kind introduction, but more importantly, for her service as your Board Chair and as a school counselor out in St. Louis.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes!  St. Louis in the house?  (Applause.)  All right.  What about Chicago?  We could try that.  (Applause.)  Okay, I’ll stop.  (Laughter.) 

I also want to thank your Executive Director, Dr. Richard Wong, for his leadership at ASCA.  And of course, I’ve got to give a big shout-out to my dear friend, Stedman Graham.  Yes, indeed.  (Applause.)  Now, see, Stedman is a tough act to follow, but I’m going to do my best.  I know he imparted words of wisdom, but I’m going to try and do the same. 

But most of all, I want to recognize all of you for everything you do for our young people every single day.  And I have to tell you, when I found out that you all were making me an honorary school counselor, my first thought was, there is absolutely no way I’m worthy of this honor.  Because I know that you all have one of the hardest, most stressful, most important and most underappreciated jobs of anyone in this country -- and I live with the President of the United States.  (Applause.)  So frankly, when I think about what you all do on an average day, well, quite frankly, I’m amazed.

An average day for all of you might start with a child sobbing in your office because she’s being bullied or having trouble at home.  Or maybe it’s the kid who’s been kicked out of every class, and he’s sitting in front of you, angry and defiant, and it’s up to you to figure out how to help him get back on track. 

And then, later on in the day, perhaps you meet with an overwhelmed parent who’s not sure that they can really trust you, so you’ve got to convince them that you’re there to help and that you’re on their side.  And then maybe you see that kid with so much promise but who doesn’t think she’s college material and refuses to apply to any schools because she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay for school, so you’ve got to somehow show her that she has what it takes to succeed in life.

And those are just a few ways that you support our young people every day.  Too often, you are the only adults in their lives who aren’t there to grade them or judge them or punish them, and that’s why they seek you out when they have nowhere else to turn. 

So before I say anything else today, I want to say something that I’m sure you all don’t hear nearly enough, and that is, thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you for your passion and your dedication.  Thank you for refusing to give up on a single child because you believe that every child has promise and every child has something to contribute.

And as First Lady, I share that conviction, which is why I want to talk with you about my new initiative that Shari mentioned; I launched it recently to help all of our children fulfill their boundless potential.  It’s called Reach Higher, and the goal is to inspire every young person in this country to complete their education beyond high school. 

And I’m here today because, while we talk a great deal about the role of teachers and principals and parents in preparing kids for higher education, often, engaged school counselors like all of you are the deciding factor in whether young people attend college or not.

Just take the example of a young woman named Sbeidy Dominguez from Escondido, California.  Now, no one in Sbeidy’s family had ever attended college -- I know you see many kids like that -- but her school counselor, Rita Guerra, insisted that she was college material.  So Rita pushed Sbeidy to take the SATs and the ACTs and enroll in AP classes.  Then, senior year, Sbeidy became pregnant, and her dreams of college started to seem impossible. 

But once again, Rita stepped in.  She helped Sbeidy find medical care, to complete her FAFSA forms, and to make up her AP exams after she gave birth.  And as a result, Sbeidy graduated in the top one percent of her high school class, and this fall, she will be starting [her senior year] at the University of California in Riverside.  (Applause.)  That’s the difference that you all make in a student’s life. 

You’re the ones planting the seeds about college as early as elementary school and middle school, making it clear that higher education is the expectation, not the exception.  You’re the ones grabbing kids in the hallway to tell them to sign up for that right college prep program, to check out that website for professional training opportunities, to convince them that they belong in that AP class and then to call the teacher to make sure it happens.  And when push comes to shove, you’re the ones helping our students meet those deadlines, and write those essays, and untangle those financial aid forms.

I recently saw this firsthand at a financial aid event run by school counselors at a school in Virginia.  Students and parents had gathered to learn how to fill out their FAFSA forms.  Many of these parents hadn’t gone to college, and they seemed anxious and overwhelmed.  But I watched how those counselors interacted -- they were joking with those kids and patiently answering their parents’ questions, and I could see the connection that they had to those families, and I could see the bonds of trust that had been formed.  

And those parents and kids walked away feeling hopeful.  They walked away feeling like they weren’t alone, like maybe they could do this college thing after all.  And that’s the impact that you all have.  And by putting our kids on the path to higher education, you all are literally affecting the entire course of their lives. 

See, 40 or 50 years ago, most kids could expect to graduate from high school and then go out and get a decent-paying job at a local factory or business.  But, as you all know, today, most of the fastest-growing jobs in this country require higher education, and college graduates, as you know, earn twice as much as folks with only a high school diploma. 

So higher education is no longer just for kids in the top quarter or the top half of the class -- college is for everyone. Every student in this country needs some higher education, whether that’s two-year degree, a four-year degree, or professional training of some sort.  But while in recent decades the need for college counseling has skyrocketed, the staffing and resources have not kept pace with this increased need. 

And all of you know the numbers.  While school counselors at private schools have an average caseload of 106 students, and ASCA recommends no more than 250 students per counselor, the national average is one school counselor for every 471 students.  And that is outrageous.  Outrageous.  (Applause.)  And one in five American high schools doesn’t have any school counselors at all –- none.  And that’s appalling.  And a lot of people in this country have no idea about these numbers.  They have no idea about all the other challenges you face just to do your jobs. 

For example, those of you at the high school level are expected to help students choose between thousands of colleges and certificate programs and countless financial aid packages, but hardly any of your master’s degree programs included training on college and career readiness.  (Applause.)   On top of that, today, students at all levels are arriving at school with greater needs and pressures and distractions, but instead of giving you time to deal with these issues, too often your schools burden you with all kinds of unrelated responsibilities.  (Applause.)
  
So while you might be the most highly educated professional in the building, instead of being allowed to do the job you were trained for, you’re assigned to proctor exams, or monitor the lunchroom, or serve as substitute teachers.  (Applause.)  And then I understand that on professional development days, you have to sit through yet another workshop on reading strategies or the new math curriculum because there aren’t any professional development units relevant to your job.  (Applause.)   

So today, we make all kinds of demands on our school counselors, but we often don’t give you the support you need to meet those demands.  And this is unacceptable.  School counseling should not be an extra or a luxury just for school systems that can afford it.  School counseling is a necessity to ensure that all our young people get the education they need to succeed in today’s economy.

And that’s why when we launched Reach Higher we decided to make school counselors a key focus of our work.  See, the purpose of Reach Higher is very simple –- yes.  (Applause.)  You are at -- the key.  One of the things we’re trying to do through Reach Higher is to help us reach my husband’s North Star goal -- that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.  And we simply cannot achieve this goal unless you all have what you need to do your jobs.  (Applause.) 

And that’s why, today, I’m pleased to announce three new efforts to support and recognize school counselors across this country. 

First, as many of you might know, just yesterday, our Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released new guidance for students -- for superintendents and school principals, and he stated that they can and should use their budgets to create professional development units for school counselors -- that was just yesterday.  (Applause.)  Because our Secretary of Education knows that every school counselor in this country should have quality, relevant professional development opportunities, end of story.  

Second, I’m thrilled that the White House will be partnering with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with ASCA, and with other organizations to host a special event on college counseling at the end of July.  And together, we’ll be coming up with ambitious new agenda items to improve training, professional development and support for school counselors. 

And third -- and I hope this is something you’ll like -- my husband and I think that it’s time that we started giving our school counselors the recognition that you all deserve for the work that you do.  So, as you may know, every year we honor the national Teacher of the Year at the White House.  Well, starting next year, for the first time ever, we will also hold a White House ceremony honoring the School Counselor of the Year.  (Applause.)  Yes.  This is a start.  It is really a start.   

The idea behind these efforts is very simple:  We want to celebrate our school counselors, and we want to highlight what’s working in college counseling across the country.  Because we know that so many of you are already leading the way.

For example, Jeremy Goldman, who is the 2014 Maryland High School Counselor of the Year -- you guys know Jeremy?  (Laughter.)  Is he kind of cool?  Where -- is Jeremy here?  Jeremy, where are you?  Hey, Jeremy!  (Applause.)  You!  Well, Jeremy noticed that hardly any African American students in his school were enrolling in AP classes, so his counseling team worked with teachers and the principal and created an action plan to close this gap.  And today, both enrollment and test scores are up for African American students in his school.  (Applause.)  

And Kendra Moulton -- is Kendra -- is she in the house?  Well, let me tell you about Kendra, because she couldn’t make it.  (Laughter.)  She’s a school counselor at the Edmund G. Ross Elementary School in Albuquerque, and --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Woo hoo!

MRS. OBAMA:  Yeah -- (laughter) -- and works to create a college mindset starting as early as kindergarten.  She does this by plastering her school with college pennants, and sponsoring college T-shirt days.  She conducts career days with fifth graders, pushing them to think about the higher education that they’re going to need for the jobs of their dreams.

And in districts across the country, school counselors are leading the charge to get more students to fill out their FAFSA forms.  In Miami, FAFSA completion rates jumped by 13 percent in just one year, and in San Antonio, they jumped by 31 percent.  Yes.  (Applause.)  And these school districts are no different than any others, and they face every challenge you can possibly imagine. 

So if they can find creative ways to get students on track to college, then I know that every district in America can do the same.  And when they do it, that won’t just transform the future of the students, it will transform the future of this country.  Because that’s how we build the workforce we need to compete in today’s global economy.

And I know that seems like a big ask, especially with everything else you all have on your plates.  But this isn’t the first time we’ve called on school counselors like all of you to help us meet a big national goal. 

In fact, back in the 1950s, after the Russians launched Sputnik and we feared that America might lose the space race, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which actually called for the training of more school counselors.  We did this because we knew that school counselors would play a vital role in identifying and preparing students to pursue careers in science and engineering.

And the same thing is true with our 2020 goal –- once again, we need your help, and we’re counting on you.  And I know you all can do this, because the fact is that with every life you transform, with every life you save, you all have an impact that is truly beyond measure.

And just take the example of a young man I learned about named Mikela Jones.  Mikela grew up on an Indian Reservation, and only --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Woo hoo!

MRS. OBAMA:  Yes.  (Laughter.)  And only one member of his tribe had gone to a four-year college, so Mikela was convinced that college just wasn’t for him.  But Mikela’s school counselor, Antonio Lopez, had other ideas.  Antonio pushed and prodded Mikela and insisted that he meet with college admissions officers, and as a result, Mikela didn’t just go to college, he became the first person from his entire Tribe to earn a master’s degree.  And today, Mikela is a school counselor himself.  (Applause.)   

He chose this career -- and these are his words -- he said: “I wanted to be like Mr. Lopez, to remind students that they are special, important, and have something to offer the world.”  He said, “That is how I repay him, by helping others.”

So here’s the thing, ASCA members -- whenever you get tired -- and I know that you do -- whenever you get frustrated or overwhelmed -- and I know that you do -- I want you to think about the extraordinary ripple effect of your work, because it’s real.  I want you to think about the impact you have not just on every child whose life you transform, but on the family that child will raise, on the business where that child will work, on the community that child will one day serve.  I want you to think about how long after those kids graduate your work lives on in their hearts and minds, and in the hearts and minds of everyone they touch.  

So today, I want to end as I started –- by once again saying thank you.  Really, thank you.  Thank you for your compassion and determination.  Thank you for the boundless love you show our children. 

And I for one, as your First Lady, I am grateful for all that you do.  And I look forward to working closely with you in the years ahead to give all our young people the bright futures they so richly deserve. 

Thank you all.  God bless.  (Applause.)  

END
12:01 P.M. EDT