President Obama's "Race to the Top" Challenge

Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis was once a prime example of all that could go wrong in the public education system. But that was before they won President Obama's “Race to the Top" commencement challenge, a competition sponsored by the Viacom Get Schooled Foundation and the White House, which brought the president to Memphis to speak before the graduating class.

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“I’m standing here as president because of the education I received,” Obama said, and because my mother and grandparents pushed me to excel. “I’m glad they kept pushing. I’m lucky my teachers kept pushing. Because education made all the difference in my life. And it’s going to make an even greater difference in your lives—not just for your own success, but for our country’s success."

Before he delivered the speech, the president surprised the graduating class by popping into the room where they were holding before the event began. The students were both thrilled and shocked. Most of them cheered and some of them cried.