Mrs. Obama Visits Students as Motivator in chief: NYTimes

Quoted via NYTimes:

WASHINGTON — For years, the divide between the White House and the impoverished black and immigrant neighborhoods in the nation’s capital has often seemed insurmountable. But in recent months, Michelle Obama has become something of a human bridge between the two worlds.

Mrs. Obama has repeatedly traveled to Anacostia and other neighborhoods rarely visited by the power elite here in an effort to reach out to young people who are struggling to succeed.

She has offered advice to Tiara Chance, the daughter of a part-time cleaning lady, who has long believed that college is solely for the well to do; to Ashleigh Cannon, who lives in a group home and longs for the rhythms of stable family life; and to Akrem Muzemil, an Ethiopian immigrant who has struggled to learn English and to close his ears to the seductive call of street gangs hunting for recruits. more