VIDEO: White House Honors San Bruno Program

South San Francisco High School senior Andrea Marie Gonzalez got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Wednesday to visit the White House and meet First Lady Michelle Obama, where she got to represent a San Bruno-based youth program that continues to gain national attention.

Gonzalez made the trip to Washington, D.C., for the 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards to accept an award on behalf of Sojourn to the Past, a program started in San Bruno in 1999 by former teacher Jeff Steinberg that teaches 11th- and 12th-grade students about the Civil Rights Movement by leading trips through the American South to civil rights landmarks. Steinberg joined her at the ceremony.

"I think if you really want to learn about the civil rights movement and you want a transformation, go on this trip," Gonzalez told the San Francisco Chronicle about her experience with Sojourn in March. "We walked in everyone's footsteps."

Sojourn to the Past was one of 12 programs honored at the White House, chosen because they enhance arts and humanities education for youth. The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award is the highest honor in the country for an educational program.

"You are inspiration multipliers, and that is the power that you hold," Michelle Obama said at the awards ceremony. "I want to thank you for everything you do for our kids and our country."