Michelle Obama Is Inspiring The Next Generation

By Allison Hay

Michelle Obama joined current and former students from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington and Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets for a conversation on Zoom on Wednesday, to celebrate the publication of the paperback and younger reader editions of her bestselling memoir BECOMING

Michelle Obama has a lasting relationship with the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington and Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets. As she writes in BECOMING, she first visited Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in 2009 and has stayed in touch with the school ever since – taking a group of the school’s pupils to Oxford University when she gave a talk to Christ Church College, and welcoming EGA and Mulberry School pupils to the White House.

In BECOMING, Michelle Obama said of her 2009 visit,

I wasn’t fully prepared, though, to feel what I did when I set foot inside Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School… They were me, as I’d once been. And I was them, as they could be. The energy I felt thrumming in the school had nothing to do with obstacles. It was the power of nine hundred girls striving… Looking up at the girls, I just began to talk, explaining though I had come from far away, carrying this strange title of First Lady of the United States, I was more like them than they knew.

Talking after this week’s visit, Sarah Beagley, Headteacher at EGA School said, “Mrs Obama has been a part of EGA since her first visit 12 years ago, before our year seven students today were born. Since 2009 she has stayed true to her word, continuing to connect with us in multiple ways and remains a truly inspirational figure for generations of EGA students. Her story, her passion and her determination to make a difference to the lives of others resonates completely with the values of EGA and we are proud and delighted that she values her relationship with us as much as we do with her.”

And Dr Vanessa Ogden, CEO and Headteacher of Mulberry School for Girls, said, “At Mulberry School for Girls, students past and present are so excited about the launch of Michelle Obama’s book BECOMING, especially adapted for young readers. Childhood and adolescence are such a formative period. Learning from Mrs Obama – one of the greatest, most inspiring women of our time – could not be more important. Her use of her platform to drive change for girls is critical, breaking down barriers to education and building a sisterhood of young women advocating for each other. Mulberry is deeply grateful to Mrs Obama for her generosity and support for our girls, providing many opportunities for them to have a voice and inspiring them to found Global Girl Leading as a legacy of her relationship with us.’

Paperback and young reader editions

The hardcover release of BECOMING in 2018 was a global event. Michelle Obama invited readers into her world for the first time, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, and from her time spent in the White House as First Lady of the United States to her transition back to life as a private citizen.

The book is now available as a paperback, and as a younger reader edition, available from Penguin Random House UK.