The First Lady: "One of the Greatest Lessons I Learned from My Mom"

In honor of Mother's Day, First Lady Michelle Obama shared a message about one of the greatest lessons she learned from her mom: the importance of education. Through the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative, she’s reaching out directly to young people to encourage them to take charge of their futures and complete their education past high school. You can read the First Lady’s Mother’s Day message below, or at MomsRising.org.

One of the greatest lessons I learned from my mom was about the importance of education. Neither she nor my father had gone to college, but they were determined to see me and my brother get a good education. So starting when I was young, my mom volunteered at my school, helping out in the front office and making sure my teachers were doing their jobs and my school was running like it should be.

My mom wasn't a teacher, or principal, or school board member, but she believed that our education was very much her business. And while I was occasionally mortified by her presence at my school, in retrospect, I have no doubt that my classmates and I got a better education because she was there, keeping an eye on things.

Today, we need more people like my mom – people who think the education of our young people is their business, because it is. In my work on this issue as First Lady, I'm constantly thinking about the example my mom set by ensuring I got a good education. I hope I can do the same for our next generation.

Thanks for inspiring me to #ReachHigher mom! Wishing you and all the wonderful moms out there a #HappyMothersDay. -mo pic.twitter.com/AOFJIcb17A

— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) May 11, 2014