Want to have the Commander in Chief as your high school's commencement speaker? Here's your shot!
The Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge is back! For the second year in a row, public schools across the nation will get to compete for the honor of having President Obama as their commencement speaker.
The Challenge is inspired by the President’s goal that by 2020 America will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. To that end, the application "includes essay questions and statistical information that illustrate how schools are promoting college and career readiness for all students while establishing a culture of student success and academic excellence." The deadline to apply is Friday, February 25, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Last year more than 1,000 schools entered, America voted, and seniors at Kalamazoo Central High School won the presidential send-off. Simon Boehme, Kalamazoo's salutatorian—who's now a freshman at the University of Michigan—says that the challenge brought his class and community "together in an unprecedented way."
Boehme has clearly lucked out twice when it comes to getting presidential face-time. In the above video, he heads to the White House to talk up the Challenge with the President.
Photo (cc) by Flickr user talkradionews
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