Michelle Obama has a message she hopes readers of Seventeen.com take away, “Take your education seriously.”

Obama wrote a letter to the website’s readers, encouraging young students to work hard in school and recognize the privilege of attending schools in the US — a country where education is free and girls are urged to attend.

She points out that many places in the world don’t give girls this luxury. She writes, “In some places, girls are viewed as less worthy of an education than boys, so when a family has limited funds, they’ll educate their sons instead of their daughters.”

The first lady specially wrote about education challenges that girls face around the world. She cited Malala Yousafzai, an education activist who was (not fatally) shot by the Taliban terrorists when she advocated for girls’ education in Pakistan.

The Princeton graduate was also vocal about the importance of education for girls when she and former first lady Laura Bush spoke out about the topic at President Obama’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. At the summit, she shared that over 60 million girls in the world do not attend school.

“We are really focusing on education broadly in the United States and girls’ education internally.” The Princeton graduate points out that she doesn’t just care about girls’ education now that she is a first lady. She is passionate about education for girls and will be for the rest of her life.

I really admire and appreciate Michelle Obama’s push to speak out about girls’ education. She is a wonderful role model for the millions of women in our country, and I am glad she is so vocal about and encouraging of young women and their pursuit of education.