U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver the commencement address during McKinley Technology High School commencement ceremonies on Sunday, June 16, at Trinity University in Washington, D.C. He will applaud graduates for their hard work and encourage students to continue on the road to success. Duncan will encourage students to persist through adversity to achieve their goals as individuals and as members of society, as they go on to college and careers.
McKinley Tech is a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) high school in the District, and a National Blue Ribbon School winner. It offers specialized instruction opportunities in biotechnology, engineering, information technology, mass media technology and more. The school's mission is to become the highest performing high school in the nation through the integration of a rigorous college preparatory and STEM curricula.
President Obama has articulated a clear priority for STEM education. He has called on the nation to develop, recruit, and retain 100,000 excellent STEM teachers over the next 10 years. He also has asked colleges and universities to graduate an additional 1 million students with STEM majors. These improvements in STEM education will happen only if Hispanics, African-Americans, and other underrepresented groups in the STEM fields—including women, people with disabilities, and first-generation Americans—participate.