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First lady Michelle Obama electrified graduates of WMTS High School during her commencement speech at Howard University when she told them they were more than ready for the challenges they face, and to ignore the haters who will surely sprout as plentiful as weeds in a garden. Mostly, Obama impressed the graduates and family members of Washington Mathematical Science Technology Public Charter High School when she accepted the commencement invitation of senior Jasmine Williams — who sent a letter on, ironically, President’s Day. “I wanted to celebrate the achievement of young people in my new hometown,” Obama said as the nearly all-black student body erupted in cheers.
Obama was particularly effective in calming the seas of doubt she said may be rising in the graduates. She too felt those same fears, overcame the same catcalls of hate, and learned to tune out the noise of doubters in route to a distinguished Ivy League career at Princeton and Harvard Law School. Obama encourages students to tune out dissenters and find success and happiness in life.
“For me the voices came from people who told me, ‘don’t bother applying to Princeton, a school like that. You’ll never get in’. Then when I got in, they told me not to go because I would not be able to compete with the other students [of privilege],” a candid Obama told a rapt audience. “And then when I decided to go to Princeton, they told me that I shouldn’t go to school so far away from home, that I would have a hard time making friends [and] that I would feel out of place.”
Obama said the constant negativity took its toll on her — temporarily. “And now that I look back, despite my confident exterior … there was a part of me that started to believe the doubters. I started to believe people and they were starting to get inside my head. There was a part of me that began to doubt my own abilities and to ignore my own truth, what I knew to be true about me.”
Obama also used powerful figures to relay how they can overcome self doubt and hate, like the kind that briefly gripped the current Supreme Court judge nominee Sonia Sotomayer while she was at Princeton. Or how her own husband, Barack Obama, ignored doubters all the way to the Oval Office. “Judge Sotomayer is more than ready,” she said. “Barack Obama is more than ready.”
“So graduates and those of you who may be questioning yourselves, trust me, I know how you feel. But it helps that these students are graduating from a great school, one of the best in the country,” Obama continued to rousing applause. “You are more than ready to accept the mantle of leadership. It’s time to step up, step up, step up. No excuses.” – terry shropshire
