Barack Obama urges students to prioritize education and stand up in service to the community
In a recent visit of Barack Obama to McKinley Tech High school, students expressed shock over the entry of the former president in their midst as it was unannounced. UK Independent captured the excitement in their report.
According to the report, pupils at McKinley Tech High school gasped and screamed in excitement at the sight of the former president, perhaps, because he has largely avoided the public eye since leaving office. Obama’s visit has been described as part of the figure’s support to the next generation of leaders. Entering into their midst, Obama begged to crash their meeting.
“Hey, how’s it going everybody?” Mr Obama said, as he entered into the room.
“The chancellor told me you guys were meeting, so I thought I’d stop by. You don’t mind me crashing, right?”
Before they could recover from the shock, Obama informed them of his motive, noting that youths are tool for societal engineering.
“One of the things that I did throughout my presidency was I’d meet with groups of young people everywhere I went, whether it was here in the United States, or travelling overseas just to kind of hear from them, find out what they’re interested in.
“I do believe that most of the problems that we have are going to be solved by you.”
Mr Obama’s spokesman Keith Schiller said in a statement the former president attended the school for a discussion with students about “their life goals, pursuing higher education and giving back to their communities.”
According to him, “President Obama is focused on supporting the next generation of leaders,” he said. “Today’s meeting is part of that ongoing conversation with young people.”
It will be recalled that the former president recently condemned Donald Trump’s decision to axe the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy – one of Mr Obama’s signature manoeuvres – calling the decision “cruel, self-defeating and wrong”.
Therefore, Mr Obama personally appealed to Mr Trump to keep the programme, which prevented nearly 800,000 people who came to the US as children from being deported.
“Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us,” Mr Obama said.