First Lady Michelle Obama will kick off a new program this week that aims to encourage more low income Americans to pursue a college degree.
Obama launched the program on Tuesday at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.
“I’m here today because I want you to know that my story can be our story. The details might be a little different, but so many of the challenges and triumphs will be just the same,” Obama told students at the school, according to the New York Times.
Obama grew up on the south side of Chicago, the daughter of a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department and a stay-at-home Mom. She eventually attended an academic magnet high school and then went to college. Obama eventually graduated from Princeton University, where she studied sociology and African-American Studies, and Harvard Law School.
She has often – particularly when speaking to children – emphasized that attending college is what changed her life and led to her success as an adult.
According to the Times, Obama told the students on Tuesday that “you’ve got to do whatever it takes to continue your education after high school – whether that’s going to a community college, or getting a technical certificate, or completing a training opportunity, or heading off to a four-year college.”
She noted that this applied to students whether they planned to be a teacher, doctor, mechanic or software designer.
The plan is for the First Lady, who previously has headed up programs encouraging good nutrition and exercise, to visit schools across the country and advocate that students make higher education a priority.
The new program is the first time that Obama has moved into a more serious policy role, according to the Times. Catherine Allgor, a University of California professor of history, told the Times that “she just could not have done this four years ago. If she came out of the gate with something much more tied to policy, she would have been shot down. Just look at the reaction to her suggestions that people eat salad.”
Allgor referred to complaints from conservatives that Obama talking about healthy eating was akin to a “nanny state” telling people how to behave, according to the Times.
According to the White House website, Obama, along with Jill Biden, also launched “Joining Forces” in 2011, a program designed to raise awareness of the unique needs of military families, including education, wellness and employment.
In her speech Tuesday, Obama told the students that by 2020, “nearly two-thirds of all jobs in this country are going to require some form of training beyond high school. You all are going to need some form of higher education in order to build a good career for yourselves and be able to provide for your family.”
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