Michelle Obama Watch

Today First Lady Michelle Obama will take her White House leadership and mentoring initiative on the road to Denver, Colorado.  Mrs Obama will be joined by women leaders and students at the Governor’s Mansion for a midday luncheon hosted by Colorado’s First Lady Jeanne Ritter. FLOTUS will then visit South High School.

Other notable women blazing the mentoring trail will include Kathleen Sebelius, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Ellen Ochoa, Deptuy Director of the Johnson Space Center, Nancy Brinker, Ambassador and Founder of Susan B. Komen for the Cure, Kelly Brough, CEO and President of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, actresses Traci Ellis Ross, Susan Sarandon, Alfre Woodward, and Fran Drescher, Congresswomen Betsy Markey and Diane Degette, and Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. These women leaders in civics, entertainment, and government will visit several high schools throughout Denver to carry the First Lady’s message on the importance of mentoring young girls.

This sounds like a good dose of work with a purpose. Let’s hope the mentorship fire spreads and these programs begin to increase around the country.

Remarks made by First Lady in student discussion at South High School in Denver courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov…

MRS. OBAMA: Hi! So what’s going on? (Laughter.) It’s good to be here. I’m a little out of breath, I had to walk up stairs — (laughter) — you get old, stairs are hard. (Laughter.)

Well, I am thrilled to be here — along with the friends that I bring with the cameras and the lights. But we are thrilled to be here at Denver South. Very cool school, right?

STUDENTS: Yes! (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA: Very cool. Because there are so — there are, like, over 1,500 of you here at this school and there are only 30 of you who have the fortune — depends on what you feel after the end of this, the privilege — of being here. So I got on the intercom and addressed your classmates just to tell them we were thinking about them. And just a few things that I said, and your principal helped to give me a little guidance, is: Be at school. Work hard. And don’t let anybody doubt you.

And I’m sure that’s something that you hear all the time from your parents and your teachers and your guardians and the people in your lives who care about you. But they’re right. I know you hate to admit it, but they’re right. So that was the message that I gave to everyone.

But I am — I’ve come here today to Denver as part of a mentoring initiative that we started when we first got to the White House. And we’re doing it primarily with young girls, but the West Wing — the President’s office — is going to start doing one with young men, as well. And part of the reason why doing something like this was so important to me was because mentoring was key to my success and being — I’ve always tried to make being acceptable to young people a huge part of my own career development, because there were people who were there for me all along the way.

And it started with my parents, but there was always a teacher, a neighbor, a coach, somebody in my life that took an extra sort of interest and helped to tell me that I could do it. And it doesn’t have to be the First Lady of the United States. It can be somebody immediately in your life. But as the First Lady, I think I can still be that to many kids, directly and indirectly.

So coming to Denver, going to other cities around the country is a part of that initiative. And I try to stop at a school like this and spend some time with each of you. So that’s one of the reasons why I’m here.

To read the First Lady’s remarks in their entirety click here.