Jill Biden's former students share stories about her classes - The Washington Post

Jill Biden's former students share stories about her classes - The Washington Post

Most people know her as Jill Biden. But to some she is Dr. B, the compassionate and challenging educator who went the extra mile.

Mikaela Stack knew her English professor as the “petite, blond lady” who “dressed up to the T.” The professor was a strict, but fair, grader. She assigned an essay every week and shared stories about her trips through Africa.

Stack had left Sweden in 2014 to pursue a degree in political science, and she had been living in D.C. for only a few months when she started taking English at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, or NOVA.

One night, her roommates — two Capitol Hill staffers — turned on the TV to watch President Barack Obama deliver the State of the Union address.

“They show the balcony [and] Michelle Obama,” said Stack, now a stay-at-home mother. “And I thought, ‘Why . . . is my English professor sitting next to Michelle Obama?’ ”

Stack said she ran to find her English Composition 111 syllabus.

“My English teacher is the second lady of the United States!”

Jill Biden has largely avoided talking with students about her life in politics, dodging questions about her husband and, sometimes, referring vaguely to him as a relative, she told NPR in 2013. When students sign up for her class, it is listed as being taught by “staff,” rather than “Dr. Biden,” she wrote in her 2019 memoir, “Where the Light Enters.”

Biden had two major roles during her eight years as second lady. One was being the vice president’s wife, performed, for instance, on diplomatic trips abroad. The other was teaching English. And she’ll do it all again as first lady. When she returns to NOVA this spring, she will become the first woman in the CONTINUE READING: Jill Biden's former students share stories about her classes - The Washington Post