Six high schools in finals for Obama commencement speech; public voting to narrow selection

Public to help select high school for Obama speech

WASHINGTON — Six high schools are competing to land a memorable commencement speaker: President Barack Obama.

The White House is asking the public to help narrow the six down to three by rating videos and essays submitted by the high schools at www.whitehouse.gov/Commencement.

The voting started Monday and goes through 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday.

The three finalists will be announced Friday and Obama will pick the winner, which will be announced May 4.

The president is looking for a school that demonstrates how it’s helping prepare students to meet Obama’s goal of the U.S. having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

The six finalists in the Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge are:

— Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan.

—Clark Montessori Junior High and High School in Cincinnati.

—Denver School of Science and Technology in Denver.

—Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale, Calif.

—Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Mich.

—MAST Academy in Miami.