KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — First Lady Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona kicked off their Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour in Knoxville on Monday.
"Teaching isn't just what we do. It's who we are. But for all of us who have answered this calling, there's someone who didn't or someone who felt like maybe they had to walk away," Dr. Jill Biden said. "If we want to add more bright, talented people into this field — if we want educators to be able to do what they do best — we have to give them the support that they deserve."
The first lady met with third grade students and a panel of teachers participating in Tennessee's Grow Your Own Initiative at Sarah Moore Greene Elementary School.
Sec. Cardona said he hopes that program will be replicated across the country.
"What you're doing in Tennessee is a big deal," he said. "You were the first state to launch a registered teaching apprenticeship in the country."
Knox County Schools said it currently employs about 25 people who are on pathways through the Grow Your Own program.
"It's making it possible for me to become a teacher," Monica Angelelli Johnson said. "I just think it's an amazing program that I wish more people could take advantage of."
The tour is to showcase how school communities are helping students recover and thrive, putting them on the road to success. Jill Biden and Miguel Cardona will highlight ways states and districts are recruiting and preparing qualified education for the classroom, the U.S. Department of Education said.
Eight-year-old Tu'daea Moore said she was nervous at first when Dr. Biden and Sec. Cardona came into her classroom.
"It was kind of scary, kind of fun," she said. "[Dr. Biden] kind of wants to be a teacher again."
Dr. Biden hopes her passion will inspire other people to be educators, too.
"We are the best recruiters out there, right? Because we know how much we love the job," she told an audience at the University of Tennessee. "Whether you’re just beginning your journey or you’re a seasoned educator, we’re all here for the same reason. We heard a calling and we answered it."
The Road to Success Bus Tour will also stop in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
"It's a great feeling to see yellow school buses drive around our communities with excited children who are ready to thrice in this new school year," Cardona said. "I am thrilled to be traveling across the eastern states and highlighting innovative ways local, state, and federal efforts are helping students recover and succeed in and out of the classroom."
Biden will join Cardona for the first two stops within the tour, officials with the U.S. Department of Education said.