A quick look back at the week on WhiteHouse.gov:

From Dartmouth to the World Bank: On Friday, the President named Dr. Jim Yong Kim – president of Dartmouth college, co-founder of Partners in Health and global health and development expert – as his choice to head the World Bank. “[Despite] its name, the World Bank is more than just a bank,” the President explained. “It’s one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce poverty and raise standards of living in some of the poorest countries in the planet.”

Nuclear Security Summit: Just after midnight on Saturday morning, President Obama boarded Air Force One and departed for a trip to South Korea. His three-day trip included a tour of the DMZ and a meeting with U.S. troops stationed at the border; a talk with students at Hankuk University; and a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings with foreign leaders -- including President Hu Jintao of China, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia.

All Right, Let’s Plant!: Students and Girl Scouts from across the country joined the First Lady on the South Lawn Monday for a sunny afternoon planting the White House Kitchen Garden.

Big Data, Big Deal: On Thursday, the Obama Administration announced the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative, "which promises to help accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning.

Facebook Timeline: The White House’s Facebook timeline launched on Friday, now providing both the latest news and a glimpse into history. The timeline highlights special moments from our rich history, including all forty-four presidential inaugurations, FDR’s first “fireside chat,” and the launch of the first White House website.

We're excited to introduce the White House’s Facebook timeline, which highlights special moments from our rich history, dating back more than 200 years. Explore the inaugurations of our forty-four Presidents and peek inside life at the White House, from FDR’s first “fireside chat” to the first White House website, created in 1994. You can also see photos featuring famous visits and even first pets.

We plan to update our timeline frequently, adding more historical photos and including milestones ranging from the first cornerstone being laid through events happening in the present. Be sure to "like" the White House on facebook for the latest news and a glimpse into history. Take a look around and let us know what you think. 

So, what’s your favorite White House historical photo or interesting fact? Join us in celebrating the dynamic and colorful history of the White House, and share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Google+ or on Twitter with the hashtag #WhiteHousefb.

We look forward to hearing from you!

I am excited to announce that next week, several senior White House officials including Valerie Jarrett, Joshua DuBois and I will be joining other federal, state and local policymakers, advocates and community leaders at the Second Annual National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence. Valerie and I participated in this dynamic Summit last year, and I can’t wait to learn more about all the progress that has been made.  I know the six cities involved in the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention have made great strides on their comprehensive plans to reduce youth violence in their communities, and we can all learn from the successes and the challenges they have to share.

I am thrilled that the issue of youth violence prevention will receive the attention it deserves from federal and local officials who are working hard each day to make our communities safer.  At the Summit, we will hear from Cabinet officials including Attorney General Holder, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  We will also hear from Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, and the Mayors of the six cities currently participating in the Forum: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Salinas, and San Jose.   

This week, the President traveled to the Republic of Korea to attend a nuclear security summit where he also visited the DMZ, held a series of bilateral (and one trilateral) meetings, and gave a major address to students at Hankuk University. Back at home, the kitchen garden got underway with this year's first planting.
 

On Tuesday, April 3rd, Vice President Biden is traveling to Norfolk, VA to discuss how the Obama Administration is tackling rising college costs. Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s an economic imperative for every family in America, so that our students and workers are prepared for the jobs of the 21st century.

In the afternoon, the Vice President will answer questions about college affordability on Twitter. People from across the country can ask questions using the hashtag #AskVP and follow the chat live from the @VP Twitter account.

Here's how you can participate:

• Starting now, ask the Vice President about college affordability using the hashtag #AskVP
• On Tuesday, April 3rd at 3:45 p.m. EDT the Vice President will answer some of your questions from the @VP account
• Follow the whole chat live on Twitter live through the @VP handle
• If you miss the live event, the full conversation will be posted on WhiteHouse.gov and on Storify

We hope you can join us.

Vice President Biden participates in a Twitter interview at Albany Engineered Composites in Rochester, NH, Jan 26, 2012. January 26, 2012. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Be sure to follow @VP on Twitter for the latest from the Vice President's office. If you missed the Vice President's first Twitter interview following the President's State of the Union Address, you can check out the full conversation here.

Today, Members of Congress have a simple choice to make: stand with big oil companies, or stand with the American people. President Obama spoke about that choice this morning from the Rose Garden:

Right now, the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits – profits that go up every time folks like these pull into a gas station. But on top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting billions a year in taxpayer subsidies – a subsidy they’ve enjoyed year after year for the last century.

Think about that. It’s like hitting the American people twice. You’re already paying a premium at the pump right now.  And on top of that, Congress thinks it’s a good idea to send billions more of your tax dollars to the oil industry?

Here are five reasons to repeal oil subsidies:

1. In 2011 the three largest U.S. oil companies made a combined profit of more than $80 billion. They don’t need more help from taxpayers who are already having a tough time filling up their tanks. High oil prices give oil companies all the incentive they need to produce more.
2. American oil is booming. Domestic oil production is the highest it’s been in eight years. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high.  We’ve added enough oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some. For two years in a row, we’ve made more oil here in the United States than we bought from other countries. And the Obama Administration has taken other steps to help oil companies succeed, including opening up millions of acres of federal lands and waters to oil and gas production. 
3. We can’t drill our way out of high gas prices. We use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but we only have 2 percent of the world’s known oil reserves. That means that even if we drilled every drop of American oil tomorrow, we’d still have to buy oil from other countries to make up the difference. 
4. Clean energy technologies are more promising than ever. Investments in wind and solar power are providing clean, renewable energy to millions of homes and businesses around the country. Manufacturers are building more fuel efficient cars and trucks that are helping drivers get more miles to the gallon so they can fill up less. Advanced, homegrown biofuels are powering fleet trucks across the country.
5. Oil and gas are only one part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy. We want successful companies to thrive and grow, but we also have to get our priorities straight. We have to invest in our future, not subsidize the past. Instead of taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double-down on investments in clean energy technologies that will help us break the cycle of high prices that happen year after year.

Read more about President Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy.

Ed. note: This week, warriorcare.mil will feature the story of a catastrophically wounded Service member and his saga of recovery to employed Veteran.  In an effort to highlight what our wounded veterans can offer to private and public organizations, we chose to focus on retired Army Master Sergeant, Jeffrey Mittman.  His story is one of conviction and the dogged determination necessary to continue with his recovery and his successful transition to civilian and veteran life. 

In order to bring his story full circle, we have invited his wife, Christy, and his employers from the DoD’s Defense Finance and Accounting Office (Indianapolis) to give their account of what this journey has meant for them as well. We began the series with Christy Mittman’s account of her husband’s injuries and how her family’s life was changed forever. The second post in the series tells the story from Jeffrey's perspective.

Jeffrey Mittman spent 22 years in the Army, including four combat tours, and he is fond of saying that he only had one bad day in his whole military career.

That day was July 7, 2005.

Deployed to Iraq as part of an eight-man advisory team, Jeffrey and five team members were moving out to meet up with their Iraqi counterparts. It was Jeffrey’s day to drive the up-armored humvee. So, when a roadside bomb blast came through the driver’s side window, Jeffrey took the worst of it. The blast was big enough to leave a hole in the side of the humvee the size of a man’s fist. It took off Jeffrey’s nose, lips and teeth. He was left with only peripheral vision in one eye. His right hand and arm sustained irreparable damage.

“I woke up a month later at Walter Reed to the sound of my wife talking to me,” Jeffrey said.

Jeffrey would spend another two-and-a-half months in the hospital before he could finally go home to Indianapolis, Ind., though it would take a total of 40 surgeries to repair the damage that had been done. Jeffrey spent five-and-a-half-years—the last quarter of his military career—recovering. 

There wasn’t much question that Jeffrey’s time in the Army was over—“They don’t need too many infantrymen who can’t see and have no trigger finger,” he quipped—but doing nothing was also not an option.

“I had the responsibility of taking care of my family,” said Jeffrey, who has two daughters. “I couldn’t just sit back.”

And so, Jeffrey went to work. During his recovery and transition he completed one master’s degree and started on a second. He began sharing his story at speaking events and on Capitol Hill. After hearing him speak at an event, the National Industries for the Blind offered Jeffrey a job. In January of this year, he started a new position in the corporate communications department of the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS).

Dr. Jill Biden was at the Mercer County Community College in New Jersey this morning, the latest stop in her “Community College to Career” tour. Last month, Dr. Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis hit the road for a bus tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia where they visited community colleges that have formed innovative partnerships with local business leaders to train students with the skills they need to join the area workforce.

Employers today are looking for skilled, educated workers, and they should be able to find those workers right here in the United States. Adam Dalton, a machine shop instructor at the Tennessee Technology Center in Harriman, Tennessee, said that “I have people calling me every week saying ‘I need guys and gals with this skillset, and we need them now.’”

Secretary Solis said that community colleges are becoming more adept and more agile at listening to the needs of local businesses, and are helping pair trained workers who need jobs with the employers who are looking to hire.

First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a centennial tree planting ceremony during the National Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., March 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

It's been 100 years to the day since First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, planted the first of the 3,000 cherry trees presented from the city of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC as a symbol of friendship between the United States and Japan.

To mark the occasion, First Lady Michelle Obama -- joined by Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and William H. Taft IV, the great-grandson of President Taft -- returned to the Tidal Basin along the Potomac River to plant a new sapling for future generations to enjoy.

She told the crowd:

People from both of our nations worked together for years to bring these trees here to Washington. And over the past century, people of all ages from the U.S. and Japan and so many other nations have come to this Tidal Basin each spring to marvel at their beauty. And year after year, even after the coldest, darkest, stormiest winters, these trees have continued to bloom.

So on this historic anniversary, we don’t just admire the beauty of these trees, we also admire their resilience. And in so doing, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience of the Japanese people. Over the past year, we have all witnessed their courage, unity and grace as they have come together and begun the very hard work of rebuilding their nation.

One hundred years from now, the First Lady said, she hoped, "the First Lady –- or the First Gentleman –- of 2112 will also have the privilege of joining with our friends from Japan, and planting another tree which will bloom for yet another one hundred years and beyond."