First lady Michelle Obama and her motorcade traveled just a few miles from the White House to Howard for a surprise visit to more than 200 freshmen, a lot of them majoring in business.
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“Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?”
Obama joined Meyers and Cannon, who enrolled at Howard as a freshman last week at the age of 35, on stage to speak about her #ReachHigher initiative, a project aimed at educating young people on how to ensure that they complete education past high school. “It’s not what other people think of you”.
When Michelle first walked into the auditorium, students went wild-reportedly leaping to their feet, whipping out their cell phones and screaming.
Michelle Obama, Nick Cannon, and Seth Meyers all at my school.
During the Q&A session Thursday, Cannon explained that he chose to go to college not because he wanted a degree, but because he has ‘a real thirst for knowledge’. Several moments from the day were featured on the First Lady’s Snapchat.
In October 2015, the First Lady launched the “Better Make Room” campaign, as part of her “Reach Higher” initiative, as a way to connect students with resources they need to continue their education past high school.
“Honestly I’m not here for a degree”, Cannon admitted. Students snapped their fingers in enthusiastic agreement.
Cannon took a microphone into the audience, giving students a chance to question the first lady, who grew up in a working-class family in Chicago before graduating from Princeton University and earning a law degree at Harvard. “It taught me how to open up, how to try new things that are scary, how to buck expectations and beat the odds, and all that good stuff”, Obama said. “HU!” He yelled. “You know!” the students called back.
Launched almost one year ago, the first lady’s Reach Higher initiative is a program to reach students when they are on social media and mobile devices by giving them advice and a place to celebrate education and get connected to important resources that will help them get to and through college.
“This is one of the reasons why we promote Reach Higher in getting kids to own their future and go to college if possible”, she said.
“I still carry that with me today as First Lady of the United States”, she added, “because there are people who don’t think I should be doing that either”.
She advised students to choose a major they are passionate about studying and to look for internship opportunities. “The people who are my key personal assistants as First Lady now, who are paid to do that work, they were interns first”. “My life is controlled by 20-something-year-olds”, she said. “And when you’re not, get out there”.
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When asked how to de-stress constructively, she advised hanging out with friends and laughing.
