The New School Year, with Michelle Obama

President Obama gave a speech yesterday welcoming you and all the other school students across America back for another year. Your teachers maybe already shared that with you, but, if not, you can read a news report about it here.

His speech made me think of another speech that his wife, Michelle, gave at the end of the last school year.

She was speaking at a high school in Washington, D.C. Her speech was quite long but the part that seemed most important to me was this.

Maybe you feel like no one has your back, like you’ve been let down by people so many times that you’ve stopped believing in yourself.  Maybe you feel like your destiny was written the day you were born and you ought to just rein in your hopes and scale back your dreams.

But if any of you are thinking that way, I’m here to tell you, stop it.  Don't do that.  Don’t ever scale back your dreams.  And don’t ever set limits on what you can achieve.  And don’t think for one single moment that your destiny is out of your hands, because no one’s in control of your destiny but you.  And it is never too late.  You can do anything you put your minds to –- and I mean absolutely anything.  It’s important for you all to know this.  (Applause.)  

But what is true is that building a purposeful life for yourself is never easy.  No one achieves success overnight.  You know life doesn’t work that way.  Anything worth having takes time and perseverance.  You’re going to have to push yourselves beyond your limits.  You’re going to have to step outside of those comfort zones.  You’re going to have to ask for help when you need it.

What do you think of this? Have you ever felt the way she describes? What do you think of what she says in the last paragraph?

If you want to read the full version of the speech, it's here.

There is also a short TV news report on the same speech below.