Inspirational speech: Students say president encouraged them to buckle down

Hickory High senior Brittany Farner said before hearing President Barack Obama's speech to students across the United States on Tuesday, she thought it would be inspirational.

She said she wasn't disappointed.

"I enjoy Obama and I like hearing him speak," Farner said. "His girls are still in school, so he's speaking from a parent's perspective and a leader's perspective."

She said she particularly enjoyed hearing Obama relate to his own experiences about growing up in a single-parent household, and that he and his mother had to work hard.

"If he gave up, he wouldn't be president of our country," Farner said.

Obama talked to millions of students Tuesday in a nationally televised address that broadcast at noon on C-SPAN and streamed on the White House Web site. Two sets of enrichment activities were provided by the U.S. Department of Education for kindergarten through sixth grade and seventh through 12th grade. Teachers were not required to use the activities if they chose to watch Obama's speech.

Obama's speech was debated nationwide, with discussion that he would include information on his legislative agenda, rather than the chosen topic of encouraging students to stay in school. His speech was posted on the White House's Web site Monday after growing criticism.

The three school systems in Catawba County let principals and teachers decide if they would watch Obama's speech.

Hickory High teacher Susan Robertson watched the speech with her civics and economics class, which is comprised of juniors and seniors.

"I wanted to hear what he had to say," Robertson said. "I wanted the students to get different perspectives on free speech, and to hear what the president hopes for, for the students."

In his speech, Obama encouraged students not to give up on school, saying every career they go into will require education.

"Maybe you could be a great writer. You may be good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper, but you might not know it until you write an English paper," he said. "If you want to be a doctor, teacher, police officer, you're going to need an education for every one of those careers."

Obama said what the students do in school today, and whether they apply themselves, will determine the fate of the country tomorrow.

"What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country," he said. "The future of America depends on you. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we, as a nation, can meet our greatest challenges in the future."

Obama said students listening to his speech could discover the cure for AIDS or cancer, or develop the next method of communications networking. If students quit school today, they are not just quitting themselves, they are quitting on America, he said.

"Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny," Obama said, adding that he expected students to take responsibility for their own education.

Hickory High senior Shaniquea Lewis said this was important to her.

"I want to know what I'll be in 15 years, like he said," Lewis said. "Obama said he's providing the books and computers for us, and we're the future."

Hickory High senior Dior Scott said parts of Obama's speech really resonated with her.

"He said that if you do ask questions, it furthers your knowledge of the subject," she said. "I'm going to ask more questions."

Obama mentioned that basketball great Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team and failed numerous times in his life, which is why he succeeded. He also mentioned that J.K. Rowling, who wrote the popular Harry Potter series, had her first book in the series rejected 12 times by publishers.

"I love (Rowling's) books," Scott said. "I didn't know they turned her books down that much."

She said she also was inspired by Obama's overall message of encouraging students to stay in school, and that they could do anything they wanted if they put their minds to it.

"I think this speech has changed a lot of minds," Scott said. "I was already planning on going to college, but now I'm really planning on buckling down and being serious this year."