President Obama urges students to study, work hard.
Dr. Mr. President:
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, you traveled to speak at Wakefield High School in Alexandria, Va.
I have to say Mr. President, it was a sensational speech. After reading it online, I found myself thinking about the future and my role to help America and start the legacy my generation will have.
I’ve had this idea to write to you every month, just a heads up, and I’m not here to tell you how great a speech you had, but to reflect and propose my latest idea – the launch of the Department of Innovation. More on this later.
A couple of quotes from your speech have to be shared. They were just too true to pass up.
“… at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”
“Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.”
“We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.”
“The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.”
“So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?”
Brilliant. If you haven’t read the speech or watched it go to www.whitehouse.gov in the media resources section and check it out. Took me 10 minutes to read.
This speech, given directly to students, focused mostly on work ethic in school, doing your homework, fulfilling your responsibilities as a student, and getting the education you deserve. But as a young inventor, this speech was very inspiring to me.
Mr. President, you spoke of needing the education you have today to be able to solve the problems of tomorrow.
As an inventor and a student, and I’m sure I speak for a lot out there. I work very hard in school for my future, and I invent to make the world a better place. Eventually these two will merge. America’s future is going to be run by the students of today, and the youth inventors of today will be the engineers, doctors, politicians, etc. of tomorrow. Seeing that all youth inventors are students, these two are already shaping up for tomorrow’s future. Let me break it down a little further.
Today’s students will innovate and become inventors of our nation – inventors of freedom, inventors of ways to protect freedom, and inventors to make the world a better place.
A writer looking for the top high school inventors in the country contacted me and I later found this story in the September issue of Popular Science (written by Blaire Briordy). The young inventors included:
Preya Shah – invented a cancer drug with fewer side effects.
Michael Vawter – invented nasal spray that regulates sugar levels in diabetes.
Javier Fernandez Han – invented an algae-powered energy system that combines a dozen new and existing technologies to treat waste, produce methane and bio-oil for fuel.
These three student/inventors are well on their way or already have done their part to contribute to this nation and its people.
Here’s my latest and greatest proposition to you Mr. President:
Give kids around the nation their chance to contribute and be recognized. You asked kids to focus on their education so that one day they will be able to contribute to their nation. There are thousands of ideas out there in the minds of America’s youth. But they lack an outlet. Think about it – thousands of ideas that need a home; thousands of seeds waiting to be planted and grow to help our country.
You, as president, should call on all youth to invent for pride in America, to help make the world a better place, to help make this tough economy spark right up. It doesn’t even have to be a contest, just an outlet for the thousands of brilliant ideas that are out there sitting at the desks and chairs of the students you have spoken to. WE LISTENED, and we will act.
America owes something like this to the world. Millions around the world aren’t fortunate enough to make their great ideas realities, something you know and accept, or so your speech shows.
Mr. President, if you give the kids of America a place to do their part, a place to contribute, a place to serve the nation, led by yourself, you will not regret it. America will prosper. American pride will be taken to a whole new positive level. I can see it now.
Sincerely,
Devin White
Let’s Show the World…Don’t Stop Thinking
Editor’s note: Devin White is our resident youth blogger.
