Message to Young People

NEVER TIRE OF LEARNING

I know many of you would rather be in school and trust me if it was safe, your parents would want you there, too. My message to you is to use this time to get more deeply involved in your own education. In fact if you think of learning as your North Star, you may be transformed by the journey.

Try to rethink how you feel about online education. You have been given the keys to the greatest library in the world-the internet. You can study any subject ranging from law to history. You can learn how to start a business, learn computer coding; learn to play an instrument or cook a gourmet meal. You can become fluent in a new language and you can connect to the world.

In your lifetime, people of color will be the majority in this country. You have a chance to build an interracial democracy that works for all of us. That’s why you have to get prepared because someday soon, you’ll have a nation to run and a world to lead.

Nearly 40 years ago we launched an annual student leadership conference for high school students of color that lasted over 20-years here in Wisconsin. That experience reaffirmed what I already knew-that you are brilliant, talented, and fabulous. Every time you excel, you show this country that the same communities that produces those athletic superstars also produces scientists, bankers, entrepreneurs and even presidents. So as my grandmother would say—let your light shine. But you’ve got to be on fire to give off heat and light. No person who only thinks in terms of catching mice will ever catch lions.

I want your teachers to see your potential the same way your parents do. If they did, they would know that you too wonder at the beauty of the universe, and someday may find cures for the next pandemic or help conquer poverty. America is in need of your voices, your ideas and your leadership.

So use this time at home to impress your parents and your teachers, but more importantly yourself. Become the master of your own education. When you invest in your own learning-you’re investing in your future. My challenge to you is to prepare yourselves educationally. As Oprah Winfrey says: Let excellence be your brand. Learn something new every day and never tire of learning because education is your ticket out!