【正文】 s and put in the hard work it takes to what i want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your want to start with the responsibility you have to single one of you has something that youre good single one of you has something to you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that the opportunity an education can no matter what you want to do with your life, i guarantee that youll need an education to do want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? you want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? youre going to need a good education for every single one of those cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good got to train for it and work for it and learn for this isnt just important for your own life and your own you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this future of america depends on youre learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult you dont do thatif you quit on schoolyoure not just quitting on yourself, youre quitting on your , i know its not always easy to do well in know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your get know what its father left my family when i was two years old, and i was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasnt always able to give us the things that other kids were times when i missed having a father in my were times when i was lonely and i felt like i didnt fit i wasnt always as focused as i should have been on school, and i did some things im not proud of, and i got in more trouble than i should my life could have easily taken a turn for the i wasi was got a lot of second chances, and i had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my wife, our first lady michelle obama, she has a similar of her parents had gone to college, and they didnt have a lot of they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this of you might not have those you dont have adults in your life who give you the support that you someone in your family has lost their job and theres not enough money to go you live in a neighborhood where you dont feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know arent you are right now doesnt have to determine where youll end ones written your destiny for you, because here in america, you write your own make your own what young people like you are doing every day, all across thinking about andoni schultz, from los altos, california, whos fought brain cancer since he was had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longerhundreds of extra hoursto do his he never fell headed to college this then theres shantell steve, from my hometown of chicago, when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and shes on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to jazmin, andoni, and shantell arent any different from any of face challenges in their lives just like you some cases theyve got it a lot worse off than many of they refused to give chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for i expect all of you to do the know that sometimes you get that sense from tv that you can be rich and successful without any hard workthat your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality tv are youre not going to be any of those of the most successful people in the world are the ones whove had the most wrote harry potterher first harry potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally jordan was cut from his high school basketball lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his he once said, i have failed over and over and over again in my thats why i people succeeded because they understood that you cant let your failures define youyou have to let your failures teach have to let them show you what to do differently the next if you get into trouble, that doesnt mean youre a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act you get a bad grade, that doesnt mean youre stupid, it just means you need to spend more time be afraid to ask be afraid to ask for help when you need do that every for help isnt a sign of weakness, its a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you dont know something, and that then allows you to learn something find an adult that you trusta parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselorand ask them to help you stay on track to meet your even when youre struggling, even when youre discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, dont ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your story of america isnt about people who quit when things got about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything le