Michelle Obama Tells Students They ‘Better Make Room’ for College
First Lady Michelle Obama wants high school students to keep reaching for the stars after graduation. She has launched a new campaign, titled “Better Make Room,” which will be a part of her “Reach Higher” initiative aimed at inspiring youth to celebrate their achievements and strive to pursue higher education.
With this initiative, students will be guided through the college application process, receive a timeline for taking necessary standardized tests and give their peers shout-outs over social media to cheer them on.
"Generation Z is a do-it-yourself kind of generation," the first lady said during at the campaign launch at the White House Monday. "These kids are working hard, and they are entrepreneurial, and they want content that's authentic and raw — nothing polished, nothing packaged."
"If we truly want to engage this generation in a conversation about higher education, we need to give them a space where they can drive that conversation themselves.”
FLOTUS is using her daughters to help her learn how to reach today’s young generation. As a mom to 17-year-old Malia and 14-year-old Sasha, Obama has discovered that children today communicate much more differently than previous generations and this disconnect could be what’s keeping the message of pursuing higher education from reaching their ears.
"The truth is, Generation Z — that's what they're called; these are the kids who are right now in high school and middle school — they interact with the world in fundamentally different ways than generations before them," she said. "And I'm someone who lives with two Generation Z-ers, and I'm experiencing this firsthand.”
To reach Generation Z, those in the 14- to 19-year-old age group, Obama offered some tips to the attendees of her campaign launch, such as the importance of social media apps such as Snapchat, Vine and Instagram, using quick and sweet messages with shorthand and emojis and taking their drive to interact and be a part of the content they’re consuming into account.
Obama has also called upon various celebrities like LeBron James, Ciara and Keegan-Michael Key and brands like Vine, Mashable and Funny or Die to make her reach even wider.
To view the celebrity-filled PSA, click here and learn more about the campaign at BetterMakeRoom.org.
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(Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Fortune/Time Inc)
