She introduced mentoring as an institutional commitment at a 2009 lunchtime meeting, pairing 13 Washington area high school girls with top female White House staff members. A similar program for boys came later. In addition to getting personal time with the first lady, the students sat down with Supreme Court justices, met with a curator from the African American history museum and sampled a state dinner menu while learning about diplomacy.
2009年，在與13名華盛頓中學女生共進午餐時，她將青少年輔導作為一項制度性承諾提出，隨后又發起了一項旨在幫助男生的類似項目。在這些活動中，除了可以與第一夫人共處外，學生們還將有機會與最高法院的法官、非裔美國歷史博物館館長交流。

The same ethos has guided how Obama has positioned herself abroad. At a London school, she described seeing herself in the faces of the students, who were overwhelmingly from disadvantaged backgrounds. The centerpiece of a Mexico City trip was a speech at a Jesuit university, where she said: “We have seen time and again that potential can be found in some of the most unlikely places. My husband and I are living proof of that.”White House arts workshops, visits to underserved schools and the inclusion of young people at state events are now standard practice and may be her most lasting legacy.
即使在國外，她仍然踐行著同樣的理念。在訪問倫敦一所學校時，她說可以從那些來自貧困家庭的孩子身上看到當年的自己。在墨西哥城一所基督會大學的演講中她說：“事實證明，奇跡總發生在最不可能的地方，我和我的丈夫就是鮮明的例子。”