WATERFORD, Pa. (AP) – Jill Biden sees an educational moment in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic
The first lady sat in a social circle in the library of Fort LeBoeuf Middle School in Pennsylvania, listening and taking notes as the parents expressed relief that the school had reopened and their children were back in class.
One mother talked about the “bumpy spots” of online learning and said reopening “has been so for the T” that she doesn’t worry about her son and daughter. Another mother said the ward included input from parents and that she felt comfortable having her children in a “safe environment.”
A teacher herself, Biden commended the small circle of parents, teachers and administrators for working together to help reopen Fort LeBoeuf. And she echoed a message she delivered earlier that day while visiting Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Meriden, Connecticut.
“We’ve been through really tough, hard times, but I think the only good thing about educators that I love – and that includes the cafeteria workers, the bus drivers, the teachers, everyone involved – is that we’ve all learned from this, Biden said about the pandemic and its emotional, social and human toll.
“We’re all taking everything we’ve learned and are going to have a chance to make it better for the students as we progress,” she said.
As a matter of fact, the first lady appears to be planning to turn every aspect of her new job into an opportunity, especially anything to do with her threefold passions for education, fighting cancer and supporting military families.
A few days after becoming first lady, Biden told the governors’ husbands during a virtual meeting at the White House that her new platform is “one I would never let go to waste.”
Long focused on education, she has taught in a high school, mental hospital and community colleges for over three decades. She still teaches, practically from the White House, and longs for the day when she can go back to class.
Finding a cure for cancer also motivates her and President Joe Biden.
The couple lost son Beau to brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. Her parents died of cancer, and one of her sisters had had a stem cell transplant. Doctors also gave the dreaded breast cancer diagnosis to four of her friends within a one-year period in the 1990s.
The Bidens also advocate for service workers and their families, an appreciation that comes from Beau Biden’s service in the Delaware Army National Guard, including a deployment to Iraq. Jill Biden plans to revive a military family support program she co-led with former first lady Michelle Obama when Biden’s husband was President Barack Obama’s vice president.
Jill Biden quickly set her agenda as a first lady by highlighting all three of her long-term goals in her early weeks.
She’s been busy with virtual encounters, English lessons at her community school, official trips, running errands in the Washington area, and putting the family’s dogs in the White House. Even the light blue scrunchie she wore in her hair has gone viral.
Known for surprising surprises and practical jokes, Biden also plans to inject some levity into things as her husband faces daunting crises: she woke him up to show him the giant hearts she’d displayed on the lawn. from the White House for Valentine’s Day
“She’s got off to a quick start, and I think a very solid one,” said Myra Gutin, author of “The President’s Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century.”
The first lady also maintains a robust itinerary despite the pandemic.
Her first official outing was to a nonprofit community health center in Washington to showcase its services for cancer patients. From there she made a detour to personally deliver chocolate chip cookies to the National Guard troops stationed at the Capitol.
She recently traveled to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond to visit her Massey Cancer Center, where researchers study the socio-economic and cultural factors that contribute to inequalities in cancer outcomes.
The first lady made comments on Monday during the State Department’s virtual presentation of the International Women of Courage Awards before boarding the plane to visit US military installations in Washington and California on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Biden also had a virtual meeting with teachers’ union leaders, the husbands of defense officers and governors, military children and their teachers, and government cancer researchers, among others. She sent prerecorded comments to various conferences and recorded a commercial with Champ and Major, the German Shepherd family, urging people to wear face masks.
Tammy Vigil, author of “Melania & Michelle: First Ladies in a New Era,” said Biden’s experience as the husband of a longtime US senator and vice president was an asset that helped her quickly assemble a staff. She also didn’t need time to figure out what issues to focus on.
Apparently there are no incognito assignments for Jill Biden.
Unlike some recent first ladies who have tried to hide their identities on unofficial forays in the Washington area, as Michelle Obama once did on a shopping run to Target, Jill Biden goes out as herself.
Stephen Bota said he knew a VIP visit was coming when plainclothes US Secret Service agents showed up unannounced at his DuPont Circle kiosk in late January, but they left him guessing who it would be. Hours later, Jill Biden came through the door.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s the first lady,’” remembers Bota, an immigrant from Kenya who owns The Newsroom, in an interview. He and his employees – just his wife and sister-in-law – are in a photo with the first lady that can now be seen in the store.
“I told her we’re so grateful she came to see us,” Bota said.
Biden also bought coffee at Brewer’s Cafe in Richmond and treats at The Sweet Lobby on Capitol Hill, both owned by Black. The president, for his part, stopped his column after church one Sunday for son Hunter Biden to pick up a bagel order.
“She seems more inviting,” Vigil said, noting that everyone can agree with shopping.
With the purchases, the Bidens appear to be supporting small businesses, which generate most of the US jobs but are struggling to survive the pandemic.
They also seem to signal that they will participate in city life.
Former President Donald Trump went alone to his hotel near the White House or his golf club in northern Virginia. For dining in a city with a robust restaurant scene, he chose to dine exclusively in the hotel’s restaurant. His wife, Melania Trump, kept all forays in the Washington area under the radar in an unofficial capacity.
After Jill Biden released a photo of herself at the counter of The Sweet Lobby, the boutique bakery wasn’t the only thing that became an instant hit.
The powder blue scrunchie that held up the first lady’s hair went viral.
Biden said she had no idea until daughter Ashley called to tell her.
“I said, ‘What scrunchie?’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, “the first lady told talk show host Kelly Clarkson during an interview in the White House.” I still don’t understand. “