FLOTUS on the track: Michelle Obama makes rap video for college
Reuters Top News ?@Reuters 50m50 minutes agoFLOTUS on the track: Michelle Obama makes rap video for college campaign http://reut.rs/1QxF5z0
Striding out of the White House in slow motion, sporting oversized sunglasses, Michelle Obama lays down a rap track aimed at raising the star power of math majors and engineering students.
"If you wanna fly jets, you should go to college. Reach high and cash checks? Fill your head with knowledge," Obama rhymes as comedian Jay Pharoah, known for his Saturday Night Live impression of her husband President Barack Obama, makes a stack of bills rain onto the floor of the White House.
The video is a funny and affectionate send-up of the celebrity culture that Obama has said she wants to turn on its head to try to get more American kids thinking about higher education.
Obama's "Better Make Room" campaign, targeting students aged 14 to 19, encourages them to go to college by giving them a brush with fame on social media with help from celebrities like Pharoah and basketball great LeBron James.
"I want to honor and empower young people who are working hard in school and pursuing their dreams - and I want to do it in a fresh and fun way," she said in a statement.
Obama and Pharoah had help on the video from viral video makers The Gregory Brothers, and it was produced by IAC/InterActive's CollegeHumor, which makes viral comedy videos.
cast:
First Lady Michele Obama
Jay Pharaoh
Morgan Meadows
Mahlon Raoufi
read: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obama-firstlady-idUSKBN0TT1BA20151210?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter
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Mahalo bigtree~ made laugh and tear up a little a too.. not sure why. Maybe cause it's so cool! 
I love our First Lady, she's definitely one of the top women in this nation, and she never gives up on the youth of the nation. I love everything she has done and is doing to make this nation/this world a better place. Keep on Keeping it Real First Lady Obama! 
I wish they could have said "consider college." And only if we had a program set up somewhat like Germany's, where they have apprenticeships leading into high-paying careers. The student gets paid something like 1400-1600 a month, and they both work and go to school. If they're good at what they do, they can most likely get into a job at the same company when their apprenticeship is up.
Being right on the front lines, teaching some of my courses at a community college, I see what happens when students who should not go to college go to college. Answer: they rack up debt and feel like failures. Some of these students have native or innate abilities to do things like construction, woodworking, plumbing, and HVAC. We need to pay more respect to specialists in that area. When I ask some of these students why they're in college, they tell me it's because their parents don't want to say they are in a trade school. That is why they go to college.
That's not a good reason.
But on the thread topic, this is funny and cute, and I can never get enough of watching Michelle, no matter what it is she's doing. She truly is our nation's treasure.
Cher
Because my students are about 1/3 Hispanic, 1/3 African American, and 1/3 Caucasian with some Asian mixed in there. However, the ad could be oriented nationally.
I also work in two programs that encourage African-Americans to go to college, so maybe I'm living in a state that's a little more encouraging of these endeavors. If that is the case, it's not through any effort by Christie. It's because the people who run these programs are very good and get into our legislature and fight tooth and nail for the money to fund them. Also, we have a Democratic legislature.
It's a good thought. There might be something to it on the national level.
Cher
