By AARON HOLMES – News Editor
President Barack Obama commended Clarke Central High School graduation coach Lawrence Harris in Washington on Thursday for the standard of excellence Harris displays in his career.
“He’s made it his mission to help other young people like him graduate as a college advisor at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia,” Obama said.
Harris was invited to the White House along with over 100 non-profit organizations and universities as part of a summit to voluntarily make college more accessible for all high school students. Harris says that his invitation came early last week.
“They called me on Tuesday, and they said, ‘We want you to be at the White House on Wednesday,’ and they flew me up Wednesday night right after school,” Harris said.
On the following day, Harris met with Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama prior to the President’s speech.
“We sat down, we talked about the work I did at Clarke Central, talked about the whole idea behind college advising, and different ideas about education and what we can do to help our students cross these barriers,” Harris said. “Then he gave his speech, and I was surprised because he mentioned what we had just talked about in the speech.”
In his speech, Obama commended Harris for his commitment to receiving a college education, as well as his dedication to students at CCHS.
“Lawrence went to the University of Georgia and, like a lot of first generation college students, it wasn’t easy for him. Those are the kinds of just day-to-day challenges that a lot of these young people with enormous talent are having to overcome,” Obama said. “He stuck with it. He graduated. But now he’s giving back.”
According to Harris, Obama spoke to him once again after the speech to congratulate him for his work at CCHS.
“After the speech, we went back, and they said they were proud of me and proud of the work I was doing. And then we hugged, shook hands and took pictures. It was quite an experience,” Harris said.
For Harris, the recognition he received was not as rewarding as the support that his line of work was receiving from the President.
“I think everyone else is more excited than I am. I’m more hoping that what he was actually talking about, people took to heart. The whole idea behind the summit was, ‘What can we do to take down these barriers for students that can’t get into college?’ And I’m more excited to see what kind of work comes from this; hopefully something gets done,” Harris said.
