First Lady Jill Biden has stepped down from her teaching job at Northern Virginia Community College, weeks before she and President Biden are set to leave the White House.
“Being your first lady has been the honor of my life. But being your colleague has been the work of my life,” she said Monday during an online “thank you” event attended virtually by teachers from around the country. “Last Thursday, I taught my last class of the semester — and my final class ever — at Northern Virginia Community College.”
Biden did not elaborate on whether she was capping off her 40-year teaching career entirely with retirement, or would move on to other educational ventures.
Sitting on a sofa and flanked by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and National Education Association President Becky Pringle, Biden extolled her love of her profession. In 2021, she had spoken alongside the pair at her first official event as first lady, when she kicked off her initial White House tenure by honoring teachers.
“I will always love this profession, which is why I continued to teach full time while serving as your first lady,” Biden said at Monday’s event.
The first woman to maintain a professional career outside the White House while serving as first lady, Biden had begun her 15-year stint teaching English and writing at NOVA when she and then-Vice President Biden moved to Washington in 2009.
After that term ended in 2017, Jill Biden commuted from Delaware to continue teaching at the school. She also spoke at other colleges, including Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn in 2019.
Now, however, the Bidens are just five weeks away from another move out of Washington, as Donald Trump prepares to take office.
“As she retires after an exemplary career, she leaves a lasting legacy in the lives of the students she taught, mentored and inspired over the years,” NOVA President Anne Kress said in a statement Tuesday. “She has been a remarkable, unequaled champion for America’s community colleges, and we know that her advocacy will continue.”
With News Wire Services
