Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Ten students from Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg were invited to a March 19 White House dinner hosted by Michelle Obama in commemoration of Women's History Month.
Well renowned women such as Alicia Keys, Cheryl Crow, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, Dominique Dawes, Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody and Susan G. Komen for the Cure founder Nancy Brinker were in attendance.
Elizabeth Seton senior Kyra Simon, 17 of Mitchellville, said her favorite part of the event was meeting the First Lady.
"It was very inspirational. All the women there were telling us their success stories but they were also telling us how difficult it was to get there and that it won't always be easy," she said.
Junior Annette Englehart of Bowie, 16, sat at a table with Alicia Keys and her mother and Sasha and Malia Obama and their grandmother, Marian Robinson.
"They were actually there to talk to us," Englehart said. "Michelle Obama said, ‘I see a little bit of me in all of you.'"
Junior Melissa DeSoto, 16 of Port Tobacco said the whole event was "surreal."
Other Elizabeth Seton students who attended the dinner are: Alyssa Brockington, Rachel Hammer, Jordan Hopkins, Erica Tremble, Meyana Throne, Gretchen Sims and Nicolasa Chavez.