President Obama Visits Local School with Message for Students

September 8, 2009

By Benjamin Cohn

Local area high-school students got the rare opportunity to see President Obama in person when he visited Wakefield High School, in Arlington, Virginia, to give a speech addressed to students in America today.

Subjects of President Obama’s speech ranged from personal responsibility to students’ personal advantages and disadvantages. He remarked about his own childhood, “My mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself.”

Such topics are fitting for Wakefield, which prides itself on both its diversity and high test scores. With higher percentages of minority students than both Washington-Lee and Yorktown high schools and with the highest percentage of students who received free or reduced lunch, Wakefield fit into the President’s model of high performing schools with disadvantaged students.

The school’s principal, Doris Jackson, had this to say about the student body, “You are diverse; racially, socially, and economically. You vary in abilities, you vary in aptitudes. You are a rich and colorful tapestry of individuals.”

“Another reason I’m sure President Obama chose Wakefield is because of our outstanding student results. Last spring, you passed for the 4^th year in a row, the state mandated standards of learning exams at an all-time high score.”

Though the President’s visit was momentous for Wakefield, the smallest of the three traditional Arlington high schools with just over 1400 students, the school is no stranger to recognition and high-profile visits. It is the winner of the College Board’s Inspiration Award of 2007, and earlier this year in February, Education Secretary Arne Duncan made his first visit to the school.

In the end, President Obama closed on a note of responsibility for both the Wakefield students, and every one watching via television, radio, or internet.

“You’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you…”

“Make us all proud. I know you can do it.”