North Shines on National Stage With President Obama

Hundreds of students stayed after school at North High School Monday afternoon for a once-in-a-lifetime event: a visit by the President of the United States. Barack Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, made a point of coming to talk with them about their future plans. A town hall discussion in the auditorium on the topic of college access and affordability was a historic opportunity and it was seized upon.

After a long wait, as students and parents went through security and found their seats in the auditorium, the guests of honor finally took the stage. Neither Secretary Duncan nor President Obama wore their suit coats. Their sleeves were rolled up and their homework was done. They knew exactly where they were and why.

North students distinguished themselves in the persons of Lexi Smith, Emily Brown, Russhaun Johnson, Markes Carter and many others.

Smith, an officer in the school’s Junior ROTC corps, was in uniform and led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Brown’s solo, an a capella rendition of the National Anthem, was stirring. Johnson, the newly elected president of the student body, spoke candidly about his own rise from troubled circumstances before formally introducing his counterpart from the White House to a thunderous ovation from a capacity crowd, many of whom had lined up outside with their tickets hours before.

Secretary Duncan described Johnson as “cool as a cucumber,” and President Obama praised him as an example of what determined, hard-working kids can overcome and accomplish in America.

The president’s prepared remarks emphasized that all college-bound seniors must complete the FAFSA application to determine eligibility for federal financial aid, a process that his administration is streamlining to make it simpler and better align it with the college application calendar. He also reiterated his call for free community colleges nationwide, and urged students to check out the federal government’s new College Scorecard web site for information about colleges and universities.

Other students in the audience rose to the most auspicious occasion of their young lives with poise in the presence of power during the Q&A period that followed the president’s brief address. Juniors and seniors from East, Hoover, Lincoln and Roosevelt were scattered among the crowd of their Polar Bear peers, too.

That’s when Carter, besides jokingly requesting a selfie with Obama, asked the president why he’d chosen to come to North.

“Because good things are happening here,” Obama said. “The progress at North is what we want to see all across the country.”

Secretary Duncan elaborated, citing the increased offerings of AP classes in recent years, technological upgrades like the 1:1 laptop/iPad program, and increased test scores and graduation rates. He added that many high schools across the nation could learn from what was taking place at North.

The last question of the event concerned the status of undocumented immigrant students. What did the president have to say about them?

“You know, these are America’s kids by any criteria other than a piece of paper,” Obama said. “I just can’t understand why we wouldn’t welcome…”

At that an ovation began to swell that drowned out the last words and signaled enough talk. Music cued up as a soundtrack while the president nibbled at the edges of the crowd pressing close enough to touch him, shaking hands two at a time and exchanging greetings with scores of admirers while his security detail ushered him toward the wings and back out to the motorcade for the ride back to the airport where Air Force One was waiting.

It was a scene that is hard to put in its full context.

It hasn’t been long since North was officially branded a failing school. The silver lining of that stigma was a federal School Improvement Grant in 2010. To say that things have changed since then is like saying that Monday was a bit unusual.

Today the stage at North was a national one. From the moment an aide affixed the familiar presidential seal to the podium it beamed like one of approval, shining prestige upon a school that’s earned some. Just below it, flanking the dais, was the logo of the school district that has boldly declared its intention to become the national model for urban education.