The White House Blog

Your Turn to Weigh In on the 2011 Commencement Challenge

Posted by Melody Barnes on April 21, 2011 at 08:00 AM EDT

Do you remember your high school commencement speaker? Neither do I.

This year, one lucky high school will have an unforgettable commencement speaker – President Obama – and we need your help to determine which school it will be.

As part of the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, public high schools around the country submitted an application earlier this year that describe how their school is preparing students for college and a career.

We’ve narrowed down the schools to six finalists and now it’s your turn to weigh in. Each school produced a short video with help from the Get Schooled Foundation and essay. You can review and rate each school on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) between today and Friday April 29 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Your ratings will help us narrow down the pool to three finalists and President Obama will select the winning school from one of these three.

Check out this video of President Obama asking for your feedback on the Commencement Challenge finalists, and then head over to

WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement

to rate each finalist.

Download Video: mp4 (8MB) | mp3 (1MB)

The Commencement Challenge gives public high schools a chance to demonstrate how their school best prepares students for college and a career, helping America win the future by out-educating our competitors and achieving President Obama’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

Each of the six finalists schools are an excellent example of the best America’s public schools have to offer.

Take a moment to watch their videos, read their essays and rate each school.

Melody Barnes is the Director of the Domestic Policy Council