Barack Obama - Farewell Speeches

Hello, everyone. And, may I say for the last time officially, welcome to the White House. Yes! (Applause.) Well, we are beyond thrilled to have you all here to celebrate the 2017 National School Counselor of the Year, as well as all of our State Counselors of the Year. These are the fine women, and a few good men(laughter)one good manwho are on this stage, and they represent schools from across this country.

And I want to start by thanking Terri for that wonderful introduction and her right-on-the-spot remarks. Im going to say a lot more about Terri in a few minutes, but first I want to take a moment to acknowledge a few people who are here.

First, our outstanding Secretary of Education, John King. (Applause.) As well as our former Education Secretary, Arne Duncan. (Applause.) I want to take this time to thank you both publicly for your dedication and leadership and friendship. We couldnt do this without the support of the Department of Education under both of your leadership. So Im grateful to you personally, and very proud of all that youve done for this country.

I also want to acknowledge a few other special guests we have in the audience. Weve got a pretty awesome crew. As one of my staff said, You roll pretty deep. (Laughter.) Im like, well, yeah, we have a few good friends. We have with us today Ted Allen, La La Anthony, Connie Britton, Andy Cohenyeah, Andy Cohen is here(laughter)Carla Hall, Coach Jim Harbaugh and his beautiful wife, whos a lot better looking than him(laughter)Lana Parrilla, my buddy Jay Pharoah, Kelly Rowland, Usher

(Audience Member: Woo!)

Keep it down. (Laughter.) Keep it together, ladies. Wale is here. And of course, Allison Williams and her mom are here.

And all these folks are here because theyre using their star power to inspire our young people. And Im so grateful to all of you for stepping up in so many ways on so many occasions. I feel like Ive pestered you over these years, asking time and time again, Well, where are you going to be? Im going to be in New York. Can you come? Can you come here? Can you do this? Can you take that? Can you ask for that? Can you come? Can we rap? Can we sing? (Laughter.) So thank you all so much. It really means the world to this initiative to have such powerful, respected and admired individuals speaking on behalf of this issue. So congratulations on the work that youve done, and were going to keep working.

And today, I especially want to recognize all theseextraordinary leadership team that was behind Reach Higher from day one. And this isnt on the script so they dont know this. I want to take time to personally acknowledge a couple of people. Executive Director Eric Waldo. (Applause.) Where is Eric? Hes in theyouve got to step out. (Applause.) Eric is acting like hes a ham, but he likes the spotlight. (Laughter.) Hes acting a little shy.

I want to recognize our Deputy Director, Stephanie Sprow. Stephanie. (Applause.) And hes really not going to like this because he tries to pretend like he doesnt exist at all, but our Senior Advisor, Greg Darnieder. (Applause.) There you go. Greg has been a leader in education his entire life. Ive known him since I was a little organizer person. And its just been just a joy to work with you all. These individuals, they are brilliant. They are creative. They have worked miracles with hardly any staff or budget to speak ofwhich is how we roll in the First Ladys Office. (Laughter.) And I am so proud and so, so grateful to you all for everything that youve done. So lets give them a round of applause. (Applause.)

And finally, I want to recognize all of you who are here in this audience. We have our educators, our leaders, our young people who have been with us since we launched Reach Higher back in 2014. Now, when we first came up with this idea, we had one clear goal in mind: We wanted to make higher education cool. We wanted to change the conversation around what it means and what it takes to be a success in this country. Because lets be honest, if were always shining the spotlight on professional athletes or recording artists or Hollywood celebrities, if those are the only achievements we celebrate, then why would we ever think kids would see college as a priority?

So we decided to flip the script and shine a big, bright spotlight on all things educational. For example, we made College Signing Day a national event. We wanted to mimic all the drama and excitement traditionally reserved for those few amazing football and basketball players choosing their college and university teams. We wanted to focus that same level of energy and attention on kids going to college because of their academic achievements. Because as a nation, thats where the spotlight should also beon kids who work hard in school and do the right thing when no one is watching, many beating daunting odds.

Next, we launched Better Make Room. Its a social media campaign to give young people the support and inspiration they need to actually complete higher education. And to really drive that message home, you may recall that I debuted my music career(laughter)rapping with Jay about getting some knowledge by going to college. (Laughter and applause.)

We are also very proud of all that this administration has done to make higher education more affordable. We doubled investments in Pell grants and college tax credits. We expanded income-based loan repayment options for tens of millions of students. We made it easier to apply for financial aid. We created a College Scorecard to help students make good decisions about higher education. And we provided new funding and support for school counselors. (Applause.) Altogether, we made in this administration the largest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill. (Applause.) And today, the high school graduation rate is at a record high, and more young people than ever before are going to college.

And we know that school counselors like all of the folks standing with me on this stage have played a critical role in helping us get there. In fact, a recent study showed that students who met with a school counselor to talk about financial aid or college were three times more likely to attend college, and they were nearly seven times more likely to apply for financial aid.

So our school counselors are truly among the heroes of the Reach Higher story. And thats why we created this event two years ago, because we thought that they should finally get some recognition. (Applause.) We wanted everyone to know about the difference that these phenomenal men and women have been making in the lives of our young people every day. And our 2017 School Counselor of the Year, Terri Tchorzynski, is a perfect example.