Sonia Sotomayor, Nancy Reagan and Michelle Obama

Sonia Sotomayor got a boost from fellow Princeton alum Michelle Obama on Wednesday, when the First Lady weaved President Obama's Supreme Court nominee into a commencement address she delivered at a Washington, D.C., high school. After that, Mrs. Obama lunched with former First Lady Nancy Reagan in the White House residence.


Speaking to graduates of the Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School, Mrs. Obama related her experiences as a kid of modest means from the South Side of Chicago and her self-doubts about attending Princeton.

The First Lady wanted to convey to the Class of 2009 -- and their parents -- that they should push through self-doubt and plunge ahead. Her optimistic message was aimed at working-class families.

All 98 members of the class are college bound. To their parents, Mrs. Obama said, "Maybe some of you are worried about how to support a child who has chosen a path that might be very different from your own.

"And I can only imagine what my parents, working-class folks who didn't go to college, must have been thinking about when they sent me off to Princeton. And I had a little head start, because I had a brother who went to Princeton, so that helped. But what was true was that unlike many of my classmates at that wonderful institution whose families had attended Princeton for generations, my parents hadn't gone to college, so they couldn't really tell me what to expect or how to prepare. And many of you may be in that situation, as well.

"But here's the thing. In the end, the good news is that none of that really mattered. It just really didn't matter. My parents didn't have to be lawyers or doctors or college graduates to help me succeed. I didn't need that from my parents.

"What mattered was their love. What mattered was their encouragement and unconditional support. That's all that mattered. What mattered was that when I called home, they picked up the phone every time and told me every single second that they were proud of me, no matter what, and they reminded me over and over again that no matter what all those nagging voices said, that I deserved to be where I was."

Themematically, the Sotomayor nomination fit right into Mrs. Obama's speech. Sotomayor grew up in a New York public housing project, raised by a single mother. Sotomayor, like Mrs. Obama, was exposed to a different world when she went to Princeton as an undergraduate. Sotomayor went on to Yale Law School; Mrs. Obama traveled from Princeton to Harvard Law.

Mrs. Obama said when she arrived at Princeton, "I was also worried. I was worried about whether or not I was ready, whether or not I would fit in. And I have realized since then that I probably wasn't alone in my fears, in my worries.

"And then I read this story of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. I don't know if you know about this phenomenal woman, but the President -- she's the President's nominee for the Supreme Court -- and she's the first Hispanic woman to be considered for the position. The first.

"And she went to Princeton. And in this story she said that when she arrived at Princeton as a freshman -- and this was nine years before I would even think about going -- she said when she stepped on that campus, she said -- and this is a quote -- she said she felt like 'a visitor landing in an alien country.'

"And she said she never raised her hand her first year because -- and this is a quote -- she 'was too embarrassed and too intimidated to ask questions.'

"So despite all of her success at Princeton -- and then she went on to Yale Law School where she was at the top of her class, in both schools -- and despite all of her professional accomplishments, Judge Sotomayor says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if she measures up.

"And when I read her story, I understood exactly how she feels. And I understood what it must have been like for her to step on that campus despite these nagging voices that sometimes rumble around in your head.

"And for me, the voices came from people who at first told me, 'Don't bother applying to Princeton, not a school like that,' because they said I'd never get in.

"Then when I got in, they told me not to go because I wouldn't be able to compete against students who would be more prepared.

"And then when I decided to attend, they told me that I shouldn't go to a school so far away from home because I would have a hard time making friends; I would feel out of place and I wouldn't make it through. Voices of people sowing seeds of doubt in my head."

So if the graduates are going to hear voices in their heads, Mrs. Obama would rather they come from the seeds of confidence she planted on Wednesday.

As for that lunch with Mrs. Reagan. Lasted about an hour. Conversation "lovely," said Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman, Catherine McCormick-Lelyveld.