The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
This week, President Obama announced a commitment that will connect 20 million students to next-generation Internet at school, and made the first-ever Presidential short film. The White House announced it's hosting a Maker Faire and the First Lady talked about her freshman year of college! Check out what you missed in this week's wrap up.
This week, President Obama announced a commitment that will connect 20 million students to next-generation Internet at school, and made the first-ever Presidential short film. The White House announced it's hosting a Maker Faire and the First Lady talked about her freshman year of college. Check out what you missed in this week's wrap up.
Making Major ConnectED Progress
President Obama announced this week major progress toward realizing the ConnectED goal to provide 99 percent of students with high-speed Internet access at school.
In a country where we expect free WI-FI with our coffee, we should have it in our schools. #ConnectED, pic.twitter.com/1J8PdLupEF
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 4, 2014
Over the next two years, the Federal Communications Commission will invest $2 billion to connect more than 20 million students to next-generation broadband and wireless. Further, private-sector companies including Apple, AT&T, Autodesk, Microsoft, O'Reilly Media, Sprint, and Verizon have committed more than $750 million to deliver cutting-edge technologies to classrooms.
POTUS Puts On His Director's Hat
Before making the ConnectED announcement, President Obama dropped by a Maryland middle school classroom where he borrowed one of the student's iPad and made his directorial debut with this award-worthy short film:
Mr. President, we're definitely looking forward to your next movie. Rumor has it, it's about a boy and his marshmallow...
Announcing the First White House Maker Faire
"Don't be bored, make something." That phrase, offered by then-14-year old Joey Hudy — after he sent a marshmallow flying across the State Dining Room — to the President, became a rallying cry for the President's efforts to grow a generation of students who are makers.
Inspired by "Joey Marshmallow" and the millions of citizen-makers driving the next era of American innovation, we announced plans to host the first-ever White House Maker Faire later this year. Head to WH.gov/MakerFaire to watch the announcement video and learn more.
The First Lady Shares Her "I'm First" Story
In this video released for the "I'm First" storytelling project, First Lady Michelle Obama talks about her experience as a first-generation college student.
She reminds us all that "no matter where you come from or how much money your family has, I want you to know that you can succeed in college, and get your degree, and then go on to build an incredible life for yourself."
Economic Benefits of the Affordable Care Act
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 5 million people will save an average of $4,700 on their health insurance in 2014. In 2016, approximately 19 million people will benefit from even larger savings.
Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explained that the latest analysis of the Affordable Care Act from the Congressional Budget Office shows why the Affordable Care Act " will make it easier for people take a risk and start a business, take time out of the labor force to raise a family, or retire when they are ready." To learn more about the full report and see five more charts showing off the benefits of the ACA, read his full blog post.
As always, to see even more of this week's events, watch this week's episode of West Wing Week below:
