Tales from the Trail

“Well, I am a woman of my word,” first lady Michelle Obama said Sunday, making good on a promise as  she spoke at the  George Washington University graduation ceremony.

In September,  Obama issued a challenge to the GWU class of 2010 – promising that if students performed 100,000 hours of community service during the school year, she would speak at their commencement ceremony.

Students at the university a few blocks from the White House more than met the challenge and Obama kept her word.

The Washington Post said that “by the time the first lady took the stage, the count was up to 163,980 hours of service.”

“I will say that if I had known that you’d complete more than 3,300 hours on the first day of the challenge I’d probably have picked a higher number,” Obama said during the ceremony on the National Mall.

It’s not quite the glee club or football championship.

U.S. high schools will flex their competitive muscles this spring for a different sort of prize — President Barack Obama as speaker at  this spring’s graduation ceremony.  But to catch that particular brass ring, they will have to show not how well their students can sing or tackle, but make the case for how dedicated they are to providing an excellent education.

The White House announced its  ”Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge” on Friday, which it says “encourages schools to show how they are making great strides on personal responsibility,  academic excellence and college readiness.”

To compete,  applications — consisting of  four essay questions  with a video and other data optional — should be completed by students and submitted by a high school’s principal to www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement no later than Monday, March 15 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The White House and Department of Education will select six finalists from among schools that make the deadline. Those six will then be featured on the White House website, where the public will be able to vote for three schools that make the best case. Obama himself will select a national winner, and visit the school to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2010.