LISTEN TO THIS AND CHANGE YOURSELF | Motivational Speech By Michelle Obama

some of you have been homeless some of you have risked the rejection of your families to pursue your education many of you have laying awake at night wondering how on Earth you were gonna support your parents and your kids and still pay tuition and many of you know what it's like to live not just month to month or day to day but meal to meal but graduates let me tell you you should never ever be embarrassed by those struggles you should never view your challenges as a disadvantage instead it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages and I know that because I've seen it myself not just as a student working my way through school but years later before I came to the White House and I worked as a Dean at a college in that role I encountered students who had every Advantage their parents paid their full tuition they lived in beautiful campus dorms they had every material possession a college kid could want cars computers spending money but when some of them got their first bad grade they just fell apart they lost it because they were ill-equipped to handle their first encounter with disappointment or falling short but graduates as you all know life will put many obstacles in your path that are far worse than a bad grade you'll have unreasonable bosses and difficult clients and patients you'll experience illnesses and losses crises and setbacks that will come out of nowhere and knock you off your feet but unlike so many other young people you have already developed the resilience and the maturity that you need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and keep moving through the pain keep moving forward I've always felt a deep sense of obligation to make the biggest impact possible with this incredible platform so I took on issues that were personal to me issues like helping families raise healthier kids honoring the incredible military families that I've met out on the campaign Trail inspiring our young people to Value their education and finish college foreign s criticize my choices for not being bold enough but these were my choices my issues and I decided to tackle them in a way that felt most authentic to me in a way that was most substantive and strategic but also fun and hopefully inspiring so I immersed myself in the policy details I worked with Congress on legislation against speeches to CEOs military generals Hollywood Executives but I also work to ensure that my efforts would resonate with kids and families and that meant doing things in a creative and unconventional way so yeah I planted a garden and hula hooped on the White House lawn with kids I did some mom dancing on TV I celebrated military kids with Kermit the Frog I asked folks across the country to wear their Alma Mater's t-shirts for college Signing Day and at the end of the day by staying true to the me I've always known I found that this journey has been incredibly freeing you see Barack and I were both raised by families who didn't have much in the way of money or material possession questions but who had given us something far more valuable Emotional Love says they had never imagined for themselves my father was a pump operator at the city water plant and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and I were young and even as a kid I knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain and I knew there were plenty of mornings when it was a struggle for him to Simply get out of bed but every morning I watched my father wake up with a smile now grab his walker prop himself up against the bathroom sink and slowly shave and button his uniform and when he returned home after a Long Day's Work my brother and I would would stand at the top of the stairs of our little apartment efficiently waiting to greet him watching as he reached down to lift one leg and then the other to slowly climb his way into our arms but despite these challenges my dad hardly ever missed a day of work he and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education they could only dream of what has been you received from your teacher or Professor oh I've gotten a lot of great advice from teachers mentors professors throughout the year so first of all you got to be uh open to taking some risks and not being afraid to fail failure is the key to success so when you get to College you got to raise your hand you have to be engaged don't be the kid thinking oh I shouldn't be here and maybe I'm not smart enough and maybe you know no you are more than capable of going to college being successful and going on doing whatever you want in life I sit here because I am you all there is no difference between me and you working class kid growing up on the south side of Chicago growing up with doubts and fears just like all of you all do I know exactly how you always feel and kids out there who are thinking maybe I'm not ready maybe I'm not good enough maybe I can't afford it but what teachers and mentors have told me is that yes you can and you must so get in there and be bold with your intelligence raise your hand and get support when you need it and know that we all got here because somebody helped us I want you all to stay true to the most real most sincere most authentic parts of yourselves I want you to ask those basic questions who do you want to be what inspires you how do you want to give back and then I want you to take a deep breath and Trust yourselves to chart your own course and make your mark on the world maybe it feels like you're supposed to go to law school but what you really want to do is teach little kids maybe your parents are expecting you to come back home after you graduate but you're feeling a pull to travel the world I want you to listen to those thoughts I want you to act with both your mind but also your heart and no matter what path you choose I want you to make sure it's you choosing it and not someone else we learned about dignity and decency that how hard you work matters more than how much you make that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself we learned about honesty and in Tegrity that the truth matters that that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square do you feel like and I'm sure you did feel pressured to be the first African-American first lady to like there's some kind of responsibility or well one of the things I know from sitting in this position that every first lady feels some level of pressure I mean this is a big platform and you don't want to mess it up so I wouldn't dare to compare my experience to any former first lady but I do take the role seriously I do as I said in my convention speech I know that kids are watching us they're watching what we say what we do and Barack and I have tried to make sure that what kids are seeing or something is something that they can be proud of because it 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