Michelle Obama surprised a group of students from Blackfeet Nation who were visiting Sidwell Friends as part of a cultural exchange program
A group of Native American students from Montana got the surprise of their lives earlier this month while visiting Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC as part of an exchange program.
Nine students from Browning High School were giving presentations on Native American culture to some of the younger students at the private Quaker school on the morning of March 17 when they and and their teacher, Amy Conrey Andreas, were suddenly ushered into a conference room.
Then, before the students had time to figure out what was going on, in walked Michelle Obama.
The former first lady had apparently been on campus that morning to meet with one of daughter Sasha's counselors, and while that appointment was wrapping up had been asked if there was any chance she might be willing to stop in and say a quick hello to the students.
Michelle did not however want to go say a quick hello to the students, who are all part of Browning’s Human Rights Club, and instead decided to spend her day with the young men and women of the Blackfeet Nation.
For the next few hours the nine students and their very emotional teacher hugged, posed for selfies and listened while Michelle spoke to them about success, privilege and the importance of education.
She told the group of Native students at the start of the video: 'It is going to be so important for you to be strong leaders so you can help your communities. That was my whole thing when I thought about law school, when I thought about what I wanted to do.
'I didn't keep practicing law because I wanted to pick a career that allowed me to go back to my neighborhood and my community. But I had to get the education and the experience to bring something back and just think about it now. We're about to build a multi-million dollar library right in my neighborhood.
'The presidential library is going to be located 10 minutes from where I grew up.'
A group of Native American students from Montana got the surprise of their lives earlier this month while visiting Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC as part of an exchange program.
Nine students from Browning High School were giving presentations on Native American culture to some of the younger students at the private Quaker school on the morning of March 17 when they and and their teacher, Amy Conrey Andreas, were suddenly ushered into a conference room.
Then, before the students had time to figure out what was going on, in walked Michelle Obama.
The former first lady had apparently been on campus that morning to meet with one of daughter Sasha's counselors, and while that appointment was wrapping up had been asked if there was any chance she might be willing to stop in and say a quick hello to the students.
Michelle did not however want to go say a quick hello to the students, who are all part of Browning’s Human Rights Club, and instead decided to spend her day with the young men and women of the Blackfeet Nation.
For the next few hours the nine students and their very emotional teacher hugged, posed for selfies and listened while Michelle spoke to them about success, privilege and the importance of education.
She told the group of Native students at the start of the video: 'It is going to be so important for you to be strong leaders so you can help your communities. That was my whole thing when I thought about law school, when I thought about what I wanted to do.
'I didn't keep practicing law because I wanted to pick a career that allowed me to go back to my neighborhood and my community. But I had to get the education and the experience to bring something back and just think about it now. We're about to build a multi-million dollar library right in my neighborhood.
'The presidential library is going to be located 10 minutes from where I grew up.'
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