President Obama's YouTube Interview: A Focus on Education

While President Obama was delivering his State of the Union speech, the White House opened a moderator platform on YouTube so thousands of Americans could post their questions for the president in response to his yearly speech. The best questions were used to interview the president on January 30. The questions were not filtered by the White House and were not seen by the President prior to the interview with Mr. Grove at the White House.

The questions were mostly about health care, the economy, foreign relations, education, and renewable energy.

Being an eighth-grader, the part of the questionnaire that really stood out to me, was the part concerning education. The president proposes that "you will not have to pay more than 10 percent of your income on those loans; that after 20 years they'll be forgiven; and if you've gone into public service, they'll be forgiven after 10 years." The Pell Grant program will also be expanded.

President Obama also declared that by 2020, we will make it a goal for America to once again have the highest college graduation rate.

He explains that it is crucial to the economy to have an educated public of critical thinkers, good workers, and good citizens.

To promote higher graduation rates, the Obama Administration has initiated the Race to the Top Contest.

For more about the president's State of the Union speech, read this article. To learn more about the White House YouTube page and to read its blog, click here (you can read many of the questions submitted to the President).



Sources: White House Official Website
by: Brigette W.

Commentary: My Take on President Obama's Speech to Students

As I was watching Mr. President Obama's speech on C-Span, I was once again taken aback by the way he has inspired millions of people at a time (including myself), but in this case, his audience was the students of America. I stared at the television, concentrating, trying to digest every word he said.

He didn't talk about health care, immigration, or something else like that. He talked about how we as students have certain duties at school and for school. These duties are to take responsibility for your actions, to always try your best, to never give up. If you do give up and quit school, you're giving up on your country, one less person that could lead us throughout the 21st century.

As for teachers, their jobs are to guide and to inspire students, to help students reach their full potential. The government, to provide the tools and supplies to set the high standards necessary to live in the real world.

As an eighth-grade student at Hillwood Academic Day School, I am very much looking forward to college and to hopefully get a career.

By Brigette W.

Watch Jacob M. interview Brigette about her story.



Video credit: Zack O.

My Feelings About the Students Across America Speech

My feelings about the Students Across America speech on Tuesday September 8, 2009, at Hillwood Academic Day School, where I watched it on TV was inspirational. The Students Across America speech by Barack Obama was great. It really spoke to me. He spoke with such confidence, again the speech was inspiring!

Photo credit: Wall Street Journal

Photo of Samantha Z. by Irene X.

President Obama's Message for America's Students

On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama talked to all the students of America about education. Tuesday was the first day of school for Hillwood.

President talked in Arlington, Virginia, at Wakefield High School. He told the students that you need to work to get somewhere. You cannot drop out of school and then somehow land into a good job. Even if you did land in a good job, you would not have the education to do well at the job because you dropped out of school.

Video credit: The White House

The Interesting, Exilerating Music of the Presidential Speech

I really liked the music because it gives you a chance to know that the president of the united states is going to come on the platform. I also liked how he kept talking about how education was going to take us to where we want.

I'm writing this because a lot of people in the United States need this advice The music was also cool because I like that kind of music. The speech was also very interesting because Obama started telling stories about how he had to wake up at 4:30 A.M to be home schooled.

Photo credit: Current.

President Obama's Message for America's Students

Tuesday, September 8, 2009, President Obama wanted to make the speech at Wakefield high school. He wanted to make a speech there because kids have dropped school during high school. President Obama made the speech so he can help the students for hat the future. Now student are studying very hard so that the student can have a better future.

By Rachel and Brandon

Photo of Rachel and Brandon by Irene X.

'I Am What I Learn' Contest

I'm sure you've heard about President Barack Obama's Education Speech on Tuesday, September 8. Obama spoke about how learning will lead you where you will be someday.

Just recently, Secretary Arne Duncan, spoke about a new 'I Am What I Learn' video project. The U.S. Department of Education are encouraging kids 13 years or older to enter in this contest. For this contest, you videotape yourself and you talk about why education is important right now and how it will help you to fulfill your dreams. The video should be under two minutes.

President Obama Wins Nobel Prize

Student Assignment: Julien

Today President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Watch the the Nobel Committee announce that it has awarded its annual award to the US president.

Now, write a news story at least 10 sentences long:

• Tell readers about the award announcement
• Why did the committee give the award to President Obama (this New York Times will help you answer this; if you use information from the article, remember to source it)
• Link to the announcement
• Explain what the prize is (this Wikipedia page will help answer this; remember to source any information from it).

For your assignment, answer the five W's in doing this.

• Who
  
• What
  
• When
  
• Where
  
• Why
  

Include a link to the announcement and a related photo. Remember to include all source citations.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

What Was President Obama Doing This Week?

Watch the news video from the White House this week. What was the president doing this week, and how did education into it?

Nancy Pelosi: An Update

Student Assignment: Brigette

Irene reached out to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi earlier this week, to see if she could visit Hillwood. It would still be wonderful to have her come to the school for an interview with the upper-graders.

Write a news story explaining what she has been up to recently. The following links should be helpful in your research, and your big news hook is that President Barack Obama came to town on Tuesday to help Democratic candidates raise money for the upcoming campaign. The area (roads) around Hillwood were closed for his motor brigade.

Remember to include images and/or video in your post.

• Story about the presidents visit to Hillwood's neighborhood
• The New York Times page on Nancy Pelosi