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President’s Cabinet Member Chooses Southern to Speak
Southern High School was among a handful of schools to be visited by members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet during his address to the nation’s schoolchildren on September 8.
Lisa Jackson, National EPA Administrator, chose Southern High to speak to students because local EPA officials had told her about the school’s Green Club, which was inspired by Obama’s recent mention of the importance of taking care of the environment, along with the fact that the school’s overall composite performance has increased and the school’s dropout rate dropped by more than one-third last year.
Jackson met with students from the Southern School of Engineering and toured the Green Club’s garden, then addressed an assembly comprising students from both Southern High and the School of Engineering. Much like her boss did in his subsequent address, Jackson spoke to students about the importance of staying in school and taking advantage of the resources available to them to achieve success. She then watched Obama’s speech with the assembly, which also included members of the DPS Board of Education, Superintendent Carl Harris and state Senator Bob Atwater.
