CHICAGO (AP)—They aren’t even out of grade school. But already, people are trying to name the youngest up-and-coming generation, and figure out who they might be and how they might be different from their predecessors.

At a loss for something more original, many call them Generation Z, because they follow Generations X and Y.

They’ve also been referred to as Generation Net or “iGen,” since they’ve never known a world without the Internet.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP)—The prize in a national competition for commencement speaker, President Barack Obama hand­ed out diplomas and a few hugs as the 280 graduates of Kalamazoo Central High School filed across a stage in maroon and white gowns Monday night.

One part of Obama’s message was a familiar one for commencement season: work hard and think of others. Less so was his encouragement to veer from the path of those who make excuses for their problems and blame others for their failures.

CONGRATULATIONS—President Barack Obama shakes hands with Corwin Jett after he received his diploma from Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Mich., June 7.

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—When the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened, the facility was a paragon of contemporary architecture, with a green roof, light-filled corridors and the latest classroom technology, all housed in a dazzling white modern building.

It might as well have been a fishbowl: Educators and the media from around the world watched to see whether Microsoft could reform public education through innovation in technology.

CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE—In this May 20 photo, students use laptop computers in the classroom at the “School of the Future” in Philadelphia.

The NBA star created a buzz when he walked onstage and challenged last year’s winner, 14-year-old Kavya Shivashankar, to a spell-off for his “Shaq Vs.” reality show.

GAME?ON—Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, right, asks 2009 Spelling Bee winner Kavya Shivashankar to give him a two-word margin of error in a proposed spelling match between them, at the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, June 4.