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Michelle Obama Greeted By Screams and Cheers in London School Visit to Promote Girls’ Education

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Michelle Obama’s arrival at a girls’ school in London on Tuesday morning was marked by screaming.

The First Lady visited the Mulberry School for Girls in the U.K. capital’s East End, as part of her “Let Girls Learn” initiative that aims to get girls around the world into education. Upon arrival at the school’s courtyard Obama was greeted by hundreds of students, aged 11 to 18, along with with ear-splitting cheers and screams and furious flag-waving. As Obama waved to the girls lining the packed balcony overlooking the courtyard, the school choir sang “Something Inside So Strong,” before a student recited the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou as another student danced. All of the performances were greeted with clapping and fist pumps from the First Lady.

Once the students had finished, Obama hugged the performers before heading inside the school for a roundtable discussion and a formal address. In her speech to the students, Obama spoke with emotion in her voice, telling them, “Girls like you inspire and impress me every single day.” She told the enthralled audience that she saw herself in them, recounting how she had grown up in a working class neighborhood in the south side of Chicago and had often struggled to balance family obligations and schoolwork, though she “worked hard” wanting to get into a top university. Mulberry School is rated “outstanding” by the U.K.’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills and though most of its students come from low-income households, 80% go on to university after graduating.

Obama also told the girls, the majority of whom are Muslim, that even though they might “hear what folks are saying about your religion and wonder if people will ever see past your headscarves,” they should not be dissuaded by the barriers they faced. “The world needs more girls like you,” she said, and “with an education from this amazing school you all have every chance you need to rise above the noise and fulfill every one of your dreams.”

The First Lady’s visit to the school coincided with the announcement that the U.S. and the U.K. were launching a new partnership that would see nearly $180 million being put towards girls’ education in the developing world, particularly those affected by conflict, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. As part of the new program, the U.K.’s Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID have pledged to help more girls in the Congo access education programs, with a particular focus on accelerated programs for adolescent girls who have missed out on school. The program will see some 755,000 girls benefit over the next five years, according to officials.

In addition to announcing the new partnership, Obama also stressed the importance of getting girls in the U.S. and U.K. involved in improving access to education for girls around the world. Speaking at a roundtable discussion with other officials, volunteers and academics in the library of Mulberry School — where biographies and memoirs of extraordinary women like Emily Bronte, Maya Angelou and Emmeline Pankhurst were on display — the First Lady said she tells her teenage daughters, Sasha and Malia, that “instead of tweeting what you had for lunch, why don’t you tweet what you learned at school and share it with girls around the world.”

This was a message she also emphasized to the Mulberry students. After praising the education the girls had received at the school, Obama told the students she wanted them to pay it forward. “Your job is to reach back and help someone up.”

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INDIA-US-DIPLOMACY
From left: First Lady Michelle Obama, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, President Barack Obama, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the Presidential Palace, in New Delhi on Jan. 26, 2015.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama gesture as they board Air Force One prior to departing from New Delhi on Jan. 27, 2015.Yasbant Negi—India Today Group/Getty Images
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President Barack Obama signs the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act while flanked by First Lady Michelle Obama and members of Congress during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 12, 2015.Mark Wilson—Getty Images
US-HISTORY-POLITICS-OBAMA-RIGHTS-RACISM
From left: First Lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, Robert J. Bentley and Rep. John Lewis bow their heads for a prayer at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. on March 7, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images
JAPAN-US-DIPLOMACY-OBAMA
First Lady Michelle Obama exits the plane upon her arrival at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on March 18, 2015.Toshifumi Kitamura—AFP/Getty Images
JAPAN-US-DIPLOMACY-OBAMA
First Lady Michelle Obama shares a laugh with school girls as she attends the Japan-US Joint Girls Education Event at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on March 19, 2015. Toshifumi Kitamura—AFP/Getty Images
US First Lady Michelle Obama (centre R) plays the Taiko with Manaka Hirose (centre L) and members of the Akutagawa high school Taiko (Japanese traditional drum) Club while visiting the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto on March 20, 2015. Michelle Obama is in Japan for a three-day visit, as part of a drive to promote girls' education around the world. AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)
First Lady Michelle Obama plays the Taiko (Japanese traditional drum) with Manaka Hirose and members of the Akutagawa high school Taiko Club while visiting the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto on March 20, 2015.Toshifumi Kitamura—AFP/Getty Images
CAMBODIA-US-DIPLOMACY-EDUCATION-WOMEN-OBAMA
First Lady Michelle Obama and Cambodian First Lady Bun Rany gesture to students during their visit to a school in Siem Reap province, Cambodia on March 21, 2015.Tang Chhin Sothy—AFP/Getty Images
2015 Black Girls Rock! - Show
First Lady Michelle Obama speaks onstage during 2015 'Black Girls Rock!' BET Special at NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J., on March 28, 2015.Gilbert Carrasquillo—FilmMagic/Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 25: First Lady Michelle Obama attends the annual White House Correspondent's Association Gala at the Washington Hilton hotel April 25, 2015 in Washington, D.C. The dinner is an annual event attended by journalists, politicians and celebrities. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
First Lady Michelle Obama attends the annual White House Correspondent's Association Gala at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington on April 25, 2015.Getty Images
US-JAPAN-DIPLOMACY-EDUCATION
First Lady Michelle Obama, and Akie Abe, wife of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meet with students during a tour of the Great Falls Elementary School in Great Falls, Va. on April 28, 2015.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images
US-JAPAN-STATE DINNER
Akie Abe and First Lady Michelle Obama walk to a state dinner at the White House in Washington on April 28, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 30: (L-R) Renzo Piano, Neil Bluhm, Brooke Garber Neidich and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Whitney Museum Of American Art Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at The Whitney Museum of American Art on April 30, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
From left: Renzo Piano, Neil Bluhm, Brooke Garber Neidich and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Whitney Museum Of American Art Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City on April 30, 2015.Ben Gabbe—Getty Images
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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 03: First lady Michelle Obama is joined by local students in preparing vegetables that were recently harvested from the White House garden, in the East Room at the White House June 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. The first lady and local students enjoyed eating the vegetables they planted in the garden on the South Lawn to initiate a national conversation around the health and well-being. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
First Lady Michelle Obama is joined by local students in preparing vegetables that were recently harvested from the White House garden, in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 3, 2015.Mark Wilson—Getty Images
Michelle Obama Fashion
First Lady Michelle Obama arrives with daughters Malia Obama (C) and Sasha Obama (R) and her mother Marian Robinson at Stanstead airport in London on June 15, 2015.Dan Kitwood—Getty Images
Michelle Obama Milan
First Lady Michelle Obama speaks with students of the American School at USA Pavilion during the Presidential Delegation at Milan Expo 2015 in Milan on June 18, 2015.Andrea Spinelli—Demotix/Corbis

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