First lady Jill Biden will be returning to in-person classes on Tuesday at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has been a faculty member since 2009.
According to The Associated Press, Biden’s return to in-person teaching after a year of virtual instruction will make her the first first lady to hold a full-time job outside of the White House.
Tammy Vigil, who’s written books about former first ladies Michelle Obama and Melania Trump and also serves as a Boston University communications professor, told the AP that Biden’s choice to continue working is a “big deal.”
Early on, her counterparts did not regularly continue to work outside of the White House, the AP noted. Eleanor Roosevelt worked in the White House as a special ambassador during her husband’s presidency. However, recent first ladies including Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama chose not to continue in their careers while they were in the White House.
Biden told the AP that teaching for her is more than just a job.
“Teaching isn’t just what I do. It’s who I am,” Biden said.
“There are some things you just can’t replace, and I can’t wait to get back in the classroom,” she told Good Housekeeping magazine last month.
In 2020, Biden said that she would continue to teach even if her husband was elected president.
“If we get to the White House, I’m going to continue to teach,” Biden said at the time. “I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and to lift up the profession.”