Obama Surprised High School Students on Their First Day of Term

Expressions around the classroom were priceless.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Obama decided to surprise students at McKinley Technology High on Friday, by dropping in unexpectedly. To make the surprise even better, Obama casually walked in and asked the class, "How's everybody doing? Is that my seat? You don't mind me crashing, right?" Needless to say, nobody minded.

According to The Hill, Obama spokesman Keith Schiller revealed that the former president was at McKinley to talk to students about "their life goals, pursuing higher education and giving back to their communities." More importantly, Obama is apparently "focused on supporting the next generation of leaders. Today's meeting is part of that ongoing conversation with young people."

Even though he's not in office anymore, Obama is intent on ensuring America's young people are educated, informed, and inspired. Obama also shared news of the visit on his own social media accounts:

In the video posted to Instagram, Obama tells the group of students, "One of the things that I did throughout my presidency was I'd meet with groups of young people everywhere I went. Whether it was here in the United States, or when I was traveling overseas, just to kind of hear from them, find out what they're interested in. Because I do believe that most of the problems that we have are going to be solved by you."

Obama's faith in young people is inspiring, and it's a reminder that despite not being the president anymore, he'll never stop advocating for America.

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Amy Mackelden
Contributing Editor

Amy Mackelden is a contributing editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.