Chelsea Clinton pays visit to her old school

Ex-first daughter addresses students

Chelsea Clinton shares some of her school memories during a visit Friday to Horace Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School in Little Rock. Behind her are students Reginald Brasfield and Kimberly Chacon-Sibaja.
Chelsea Clinton shares some of her school memories during a visit Friday to Horace Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School in Little Rock. Behind her are students Reginald Brasfield and Kimberly Chacon-Sibaja.

Chelsea Clinton has been through this before.

Although her last name is dominating the news, she showed up for class.

On Friday, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to a packed auditorium at Horace Mann Arts and Science Magnet Middle School in Little Rock. It was her fourth stop on a tour to promote It's Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!

Her debut book is a primer on how middle-school students can become involved in global issues. It went on sale Tuesday.

"I was so struck by how curious young people are and how much more perceptive young people are about what's happening in places like Little Rock, Ark., and also all around the world," she told students.

It's no accident Clinton spoke at Horace Mann. Then a junior high school, it was the last Arkansas school she attended before moving with her mom and dad to the White House when Bill Clinton took office in 1993.

In the school's auditorium, Chelsea Clinton recalled the time she sent a letter to then-President Ronald Reagan imploring him to avoid a Nazi cemetery. It was summer 1985. She had seen the film The Sound of Music, and the Nazis didn't seem like good people.

"He still went to the cemetery, but at least I had tried," she said. "We have a saying in my family that it's always better to get caught trying."

She would have been about 5 years old. She included a rainbow sticker in the letter.

Clinton said she wrote her book because of her interest in another book as a child -- 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth. She read it while at Booker Arts Magnet Elementary School.

"This book had such a big impact on me for a few reasons," she said. "One, because it took me seriously. It didn't talk down to me. It didn't treat me like just a kid. It treated me like someone who deserved to know."

Clinton's 400-page book -- full of facts and stories from children and teenagers -- is similar. She focuses on the economy and environment and talks about civil liberties and health.

After Clinton's presentation, she allowed students to ask her questions.

Karsyn Helms, 11, wondered if Clinton would change anything if she could go back in time.

Despite her precociousness with Reagan, Clinton told Karsyn, she regretted being the quiet kid in class.

"When I was your age, I was much more fearful and shy, and I was very nerdy," she said. "I wish I had more of the sense to know school is the most important thing, but it's not the only thing."

Karsyn later said she "was a little nervous, but overall I was pretty calm" when asking the question at the front of the auditorium.

Her takeaway from the speech?

"I think a lot of kids can do anything as long as they think about it [and] put a lot of effort" into it, she said.

Memories from junior high were vivid for Clinton. Before speaking with a reporter, she asked to face away from a volleyball net in the school's gym.

"It was my source of great ignominy," she said.

Asked about the current presidential campaign, Clinton said she couldn't comment about her mother's chances in the state.

"I'm not a pundit," she said.

But Clinton said she certainly supports her mom.

"She was so attentive to helping me become a person," she said. "Not only intellectually and emotionally, but creatively, and I was so grateful for that."

Clinton's book starts with a story about the first thing she remembers reading -- a newspaper. In an interview, she said it was either the Arkansas Democrat or the Arkansas Gazette, which combined to become the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1991.

"We had both," she said. "It was the governor's mansion. Of course, we had both."

Also Friday, Clinton visited the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library & Learning Center in Little Rock. Later in the evening, she was the 1,000th speaker in the Clinton School of Public Service's Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series at the Statehouse Convention Center.

At the latter event, Clinton took questions from several children.

One asked how children can get their communities to care about important issues.

"Those of us who are older ... want to support what you're doing," Clinton said. "I think once you figure out what you care most about right now and then ask us for help ... it's up to us to help you make that impact."

Another child -- from a Girl Scout troop -- asked which type of Girl Scout cookie is Clinton's favorite.

"My grandmother -- she loved thin mints," Clinton said. "And that was so fun -- eating our daily diet of thin mint cookies."

Metro on 09/19/2015

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