Students in the Federal Way School District might not have been in need of an academic pep rally by the third day of school, but President Barack Obama gave them one anyway on classroom TVs across the district on Tuesday.

English teacher Rebecca Crawford said the president’s message fell on receptive ears at Thomas Jefferson High School in Auburn.

“It’s important for them to hear it’s not just about them. It’s about the country,” Crawford said of the president’s call for students to work hard at school because the nation needs them to.

“Our country really is up to the next generation,” said Samuel Hahm, 16.

Hahm said some kids he knows have already given up and stopped coming to school, but he knows finishing school is the key to his future.

His teacher said the message from the president is stronger than hearing the same thing from parents and teachers.

“Not only is it somebody in power, but it’s somebody who has gone through many of the same things,” said Crawford.

Fifteen-year-old Ariana Steele said the message connected with her.

“When you see someone of such power saying what your parents say or your teachers have said, like all your life, it really makes it more powerful to you and it really makes you want to try more,” she said.

While some adults in Washington debated whether students should listen to the president’s welcome back to school speech, Federal Way Public Schools responded differently than it did to a similar controversy before the presidential inauguration.

In January, Federal Way schools gave students a chance to watch about 15 minutes of the festivities, but those classes that wanted to hear the inauguration speech needed parental permission.

School district spokeswoman Diane Tucker said the school district policy requires permission slips for all movies, documentaries, TV shows and videos that are not part of the regular course work.

This time around, no permission slips were needed because the president’s speech was a special school broadcast and didn’t fall under the other policy, Tucker said.