Obama challenges high school students to book him as commencement speaker

President Obama challenged public high school students in Massachusetts and across the country today to book him as their graduation speaker.

The second annual Race-to-the-Top Commencement competition asks students to write essays and submit statistics that show their school is doing an extraordinary job of preparing them for life after high school. Obama will give the commencement address at the winning school.

“I’m looking for the school that’s doing the best job of preparing students for college and careers,” Obama said in a statement today. “The winning school will understand that their number one priority is making sure that our kids are learning what they need to succeed in this 21st century economy.”

East Boston High School, Somerville High and Lowell High were among more than 1,000 schools that competed in the challenge last year. The winner was Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Applications for this year's challenge must be submitted by February 25 at www.whitehouse.gov/commencement.

Source http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/02/obama_challenge_2.html