WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden has closed the book on her teaching career at a community college in Virginia.
The first lady, who has taught in classrooms for the past four decades, announced Monday that she taught her last class last week at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria. The surprise announcement came during a virtual thank you event where teachers from across the country tuned in.
“Being your first lady has been the honor of my life. But being your colleague has been the work of my life,” she said. “Last Thursday I taught my last class of the semester and my last class ever at Northern Virginia Community College.”
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“I will always love this profession, which is why I continued to teach full-time while I was your first lady,” said Jill Biden, who was joined on the bench by teachers union president Randi Weingarten, of the American Federation of Teachers and Becky Pringle, from the National Education Association.
Biden taught English and writing at NOVA for fifteen years. She is the first woman to continue her professional career outside the White House while serving as first lady.
The announcement comes as she and President Joe Biden prepare to leave the White House in just over five weeks after the Democrat dropped his re-election bid following a poor debate performance against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over the summer.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris succeeded Biden, but she lost the presidential race to Trump, who will be inaugurated for a second term on January 20.
It was not immediately clear whether 73-year-old Jill Biden would retire from teaching altogether. Aides had no immediate comment. Northern Virginia Community College also had no immediate comment.
Jill Biden began teaching and writing English there in 2009 after Barack Obama and Joe Biden were elected president and vice president and they moved to Washington. She continued to teach there after Joe Biden's term ended in 2017, riding the train home from their home in Delaware.
Before NOVA, she also taught English and writing at Delaware Technical Community College.
Jill Biden began her career in 1976 teaching English at a high school in Wilmington, Delaware, before becoming a reading specialist at another high school. She also taught English at a psychiatric hospital while earning her second master's degree. She also has a doctorate in educational leadership.
She often said, “Teaching isn't what I do, it's who I am.”
