First Lady Michelle Obama gave words of wisdom Thursday to a group of Chicago high school students involved in a work readiness program.

The teens are a part of nonprofit Urban Alliance, a program that Amy Rule, wife of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, supports. The program opened a branch in Chicago last fall and helps under-resourced youth with internships.

The news media were allowed in briefly to get a snippet of the conversation. One young woman who graduated from Dunbar High School approached the mic. She’ll be attending Trinity College in Connecticut come fall.

“Just knowing the challenges that come with being an African-American woman and low-income living and being admitted to a school where the majority of students are from the opposite end of the spectrum. What words of wisdom would you have?” she asked the First Lady.

Obama responded that she embraces and is proud of her South Side Chicago roots.

“I can clearly relate because growing up on the South Side and then one minute on 74th and Euclid the next minute in a dorm room at Princeton University,” Obama said. “The thing that got me through is what got me when which was finding my base of support there.”

And then the reporters were quickly shuttled out of the room.