The 15 Philadelphia students - who attended with three school district chaperones - tried to hide their disappointment as the program ended.
There had been so much anticipation when they'd boarded the bus outside Benjamin Franklin High School about 8:30 a.m.
Almost immediately, the giggling began.
"My mom told me I should have brought my resume to give to Michelle," said Jessica Cooper, 17, a senior at Girls High in the fall.
"Your resume?" Shanice Mitchell, 16, asked in disbelief.
"Don't you need to go to college first? What do you think you can do? Rub her feet?" teased Mitchell, a Girls High junior.
Though the White House seemed an enviable destination, the best stories were the students themselves.
Yang Bao, 17, and a senior at the Girard Academic Music Program, brightened when asked about going to Washington.
He said President Obama inspires him.
"He proved that nothing is impossible," said Bao, a Chinese immigrant.
He and his mother moved from Lanzhou, China, to New York when Bao was 9 so he could study at the Juilliard School.
Five months later, Bao's father, who had stayed behind in China, was killed in an accident.
At age 12, Bao persuaded his mother to move to Philadelphia. He already knew he wanted to study at the Curtis Institute. He takes private lessons with a Curtis piano professor.
"My dream is to play for the Obamas at the White House some day," said Bao, a quiet young man who wears two jade stones around his neck; one a gift from his father, the other from a favorite uncle.
And there were other stories: Veronique Myers, 16, a junior at Central High who talked about her love of percussion, and Andrew Lawson, a GAMP musician who plays saxophone and flute, but also sings opera.
