Friday marked First Lady Jill Biden’s second day here in Massachusetts, and she had a busy schedule, highlighting teachers and community colleges at a pair of events in Boston before taking off for Nantucket.
She started at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport District, where she attended this year’s “American Federation of Teachers” convention and delivered a speech. About 3,000 people were expected to attend, including school personnel, healthcare professionals and public employees.
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U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, along with former Boston Mayor and current U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, were also scheduled to attend.
Biden then headed over to Eversource Station 99, an electrical substation in the Seaport. She and Walsh met with Bunker Hill Community College students, discussing their partnership with Eversource and local unions to provide job training opportunities.
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They focused on the importance of community colleges, and there is no shortage of Bunker Hill Community College connections at the Eversource substation.
"It was really the scope of work and the type of work," said Brady Horrace, who interned here before graduating 10 years ago.
Horrace is a success story the first lady wanted to bring to the forefront.
"It's all about jobs," Biden said. "I’ve always said that teaching at a community college."
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As a community college professor herself, Dr. Biden highlighted Bunker Hill and its students currently interning with Eversource.
"Being hands on and meeting people who already work here and showing what they kind of put in and how we can have the same thing, that’s awesome," said Sebastian Rodriquez, who is currently learning about substations.
Rodriquez hopes his paid internship with the energy company leads to a full-time job there.
"I think that’s it’s very rewarding," he said.
Biden arrived in Boston on Thursday afternoon. Her first stop was in nearby Charlestown, where she visited Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital program devoted to helping military families struggling with mental health issues, like PTSD.
“This is an amazing program that now they’re going to expand because so many families do need the help,” Biden said. “I mean, mental health is real. It’s a real problem in our country.”
Just after 1:30 p.m. Friday, the first lady departed Boston Logan Airport, bound for Nantucket.
On Saturday, she will attend a Democratic National Committee finance event on the island. She did say she has already enjoyed some New England seafood during this trip.
