Remarks from President Obama's speech at the first-ever White House Star Party

This past Wednesday, the President and First Lady hosted the first ever Star Party at the White House for middle-school students to highlight the President's commitment to science, engineering and math education. About the importance of math and science education. Here are some excepts from his speech that evening.

About the importance of math and science education:
So there are a lot of mysteries left and there are a lot of problems for you students to solve. And I want to be a President who makes sure you have the teachers and the tools that you need to solve them.

And that's why we're working to reinvigorate math and science in your schools and attract new and qualified math and science teachers into your classrooms, some with lifetimes of experience. That's why we've launched a Race to the Top to raise standards and upgrade your curricula and improve teaching and learning in math and science. That's why we're making a college education more affordable, so that by the time many of you graduate in 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

And that's how we'll move American students to the top of the pack in math and in science over the next decade, and guarantee that America will lead the world in discovery in this new century.

Inspiring math and science learning:
Galileo changed the world when he pointed his telescope to the sky, and now it's your turn. We need you to study, do well in school, explore everything from the infinite reaches of space to the microscopic smallness of the atom. We need you to think bigger and to dig deeper and to reach higher. And we need your restless curiosity and your boundless hope and imagination. Our future depends on it.

Find the entire speech here. More pictures and video here.