I arrived in San Francisco yesterday afternoon and whipped through the city too quickly to absorb anything but the beautiful mountains in the background. We met with Salena Copeland, an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at the Public Interest Clearinghouse on Kearney St. She has been doing some awesome work since we last heard from her via YouTube in October (see below); she’s organized law student trips, participated in a foreclosure prevention clinic, offered legal services to nursing home residents; and has traveled all over rural California. Salena also offered tips for new AmeriCorps members which I caught on camera, so I’ll get that posted asap.

We left PIC and headed over to the Moscone Center, where Michelle Obama was scheduled to kick off the National Conference on Volunteering & Service. We heard from Arianna Huffington, Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post; Nicola Goren, acting CEO for the Corporation for National & Community Service; Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver; and First Lady Michelle Obama (see Flickr for photos).

Never trust a cell camera! This is the best I could get. Michelle’s remarks were inspiration to everyone in attendance. She thanked public service employees and volunteers for making service “cool again”, encouraging volunteers from AmeriCorps to Teach for America to continue pursuing careers in service. She said that government can’t fix our country’s problems alone, saying that it is the people that can create change. The First Lady also said that service is key to achieving our national priorities, a comment that prompted cheers all around. Michelle Obama officially announced the launch of United We Serve, of which the Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program is a part, and said that the Administration thinks of this not just as a summer campaign, but also as the start of something much bigger. Watch video clips from Michelle Obama and other presenters here.

After Bon Jovi closed out the opening ceremony, I headed back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep. Today is full of some great conference sessions; I hope to bring some of this public service energy back with me to DC on Thursday. More from me soon.

-Aaron