For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
January 15, 2003

	Mrs. Bush's Remarks view listen

Mrs. Bush's Remarks to Renganaden Seeneevassen State Secondary Girls School
As Delivered
Via Video

Policy Accomplishments and Initiatives (pdf)

Bon Jour, Hello, and Happy New Year from your friends in the United States of America. As a New Year dawns, it brings renewed hope for a better and brighter future. The key to a brighter future for each of you is to do your very best in school.

With education comes greater self-respect, and respect for others. With education comes greater understanding and acceptance. And a good education gives you the confidence and skills you need for a lifetime of learning and a lifetime of possibility.

Your love of learning will inspire you to share what you learn with your brothers and sisters, and your parents and friends. You may even become a teacher someday. As a former teacher, I know myself how wonderful teaching can be. I commend your teachers for their hard work and dedication. And for their commitment to bring the International Studies Partnership with Fayette County High School to Mauritius.

Through this partnership, you will meet and share ideas with students in the state of Tennessee in the United States. Tennessee is more than 18 thousand miles away from Mauritius. It would take you 15 hours, nearly a whole day, to get there by airplane. But through technology, you will be able to visit with other students anytime with just a click of a button. And as you work and learn together, I hope you will develop great friendships and a greater appreciation for the diversity that make our countries so special.

As a symbol of our friendship and our commitment to learning together, I am pleased to present you with a gift of beautiful, new books. You may read these books in Mauritius, but their pages will take you to many new worlds and on many new adventures.

For example, did you know that scientists found a human skeleton that was more than seven million-years-old in Central Africa? You'll learn about this and so much more through reading and books.

That's the true gift of education. It opens the world to us and a world of possibility to every one who wants to learn. I wish you great success, learning and happy reading in this new year. And I hope that you'll share all that you learn with your new friends in Tennessee.