President Obama inspired by teen’s ‘Humans of New York’ story, brings him to White House

President Obama inspired by teen’s ‘Humans of New York’ story, brings him to White House

Obama met personally with the teen, the principal of the school, and with the site's creator to hear what they had to say and offer personal stories of his own.

The story a teen told of a teacher who went the extra mile in Brooklyn as inspired countless individuals and resulted in $1 million in donations — and now, it has the attention of President Obama.

The Humans of New York website featured snippits of life through brief profiles of random individuals in New York, and recently 13-year-old middle school student Vidal Chastanet of Brownsville, Brooklyn, talked about the person who influenced him most: Nadia Lopez, his principal at Mott Hall Bridges Aademy, which is located in an area of New York ravaged by crime.

“When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us,” Chastanet said in the post. “She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

The post garnered 1 million Facebook likes and 145,000 shares, and a fund was created to help send them on a field trip to Harvard. President Obama caught wind of the story and invited Lopez, Chastanet, and Brandon Stanton — the site’s creator — to the White House, according to ABC News. He talked with the three about their stories and asked some questions.

The White House also posted a video to its YouTube channel to show Obama meeting with them.

Obama related to them through his own experience being raised by a single mother, describing how she had to work full-time while also going to school and raising Obama and his sister.

Asked when he felt the most broken, he said it was after running for Congress in 1999 when he was defeated handily in the primary. He said he questioned whether he had taken the right path with his life at that point, “and I think we all go through those stretches,” he added.

He noted that life is “not a straight line,” and that everybody needs support.

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