On Tuesday, September 29, Michelle Obama attended an event with the goal of promoting her campaign called "Let Girls Learn." This campaign is all about expanding the opportunities for females all over the world and especially in developing countries to recieve an education, and the First Lady has placed an emphasis on encouraging girls in the U.S. to really take advantage of the education being given to them.

This has been one of Michelle Obama's main concerns during her husband's second term as president of the United States. She has traveled all over the world to promote the idea that all girls in the world need an education. She has even started the hashtag #62MillionGirls, which is representative of the number of girls who are not in school all over the world. The majority of her focus has been placed on pressures, either cultural or economic, that cause girls to drop out or not get an education at all. Some examples are expenses that come with getting an education, safety in developing countries, and the cultural belief that boys need an education more than girls.

Obviously, this is a huge problem that needs to be fixed, but what really caught my attention was the emphasis that was placed on girls who are not taking advantage of the education they have been given because of the pressures of adolescence. Mrs. Obama gave a great pep talk, telling girls to "compete with the boys." She was addressing the fact that many young girls will not work to the best of their ability in school because they are worried about what other people think about them or how they will be perceived.

"If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn't be married to the president of the United States," she said. Her point was that the Obamas met later in her life, after high school, and that young girls shouldn't worry about what other people think because they have their whole life in front of them.

According to the USAID website, the "Let Girls Learn" campaign has been a great success so far. Annually, the USAID invests approximately $1 billion in education programs. A little over 35 million school books and other teaching material has been provided to education programs. In Somalia, over 375,000 children have been given an education since 2006. The program has expanded programs, created new ones, and trained educators all over the world.

The campaign will continue to work to better girls' educations everywhere, and I can only hope that it will keep growing and improving. Getting an education is so important, but understanding that every girl and boy deserves an education is even more crucial.