“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.”

— Michelle Obama

2010s, Farewell Speech (2017) <br class="br">Context: 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 https://www.whitehouse.gov/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 let's be honest, if we're 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?

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lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady … 1964

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