Former First Lady Michelle Obama attended a college event at Twitter’s Washington D.C. offices on Thursday and recounted her own experience at the Ivy League college.
Obama spoke with a group of first-time college students at the “Beating The Odds” summit held by “Reach Higher” and said attending Princeton University was an “out of body.” However, the former First Lady said she wasn’t familiar with an Ivy League college and said her brother was the only reason she applied in the first place according to CBS News.
“The only reason I applied to Princeton was because he went, and I knew I was smarter than him,” she told soon-to-be college students.
Obama advised students to find a support “community” and said she was told by teachers that as a minority she didn’t “belong” at Princeton.”
“They were wrong,” she conveyed. “They didn’t know me. They didn’t really know what they were talking about…and you can do that too. You will do that too. But don’t do it alone.”
The former First Lady said she pushed through those hard times to become a successful attorney and later a Harvard graduate. She also warned students to take care of their mental health.
“Depression, isolation, that’s a real issue among your generation. You’re not meant to do it alone. Don’t rely on your roommate if you’re really feeling low. If you’re really feeling off, there are resources for you. Seek those out and seek them out early and often,” she said.
Obama founded the “Reach Higher” organization in 2014 and was created around her husband’s former president Barack Obama’s “North Star” goal, that by the year 2020 the United States will have the highest percentage of graduates around the globe.
