On January 22, new First Lady Jill Biden delivered baskets of chocolate chip cookies to National Guard members. She thanked them “for keeping me and my family safe” during President Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

She told a group of Guard members, “I just want to say thank you from President Biden and the whole, the entire Biden family.” 

Jill and Joe Biden’s late son, Beau, was a Delaware Army National Guard member who spent a year deployed in Iraq, so that made this moment between her and the Guard members even more special. Jill Biden really appreciated the National Guard members that were at the Capital and wanted to show that by giving baskets that were a “small thank you.”

“I truly appreciate all that you do,” Jill Biden said. “The National Guard will always hold a special place in the heart of all the Bidens.”

Jill Biden’s unannounced visit came after her first public outing as First Lady. 

Although this is her first outing, Americans are very familiar with her because of her long life in the public eye.

Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden, born on June 3, 1951, was the oldest of five and grew up in Pennsylvania. Jill Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1975, and in 1976, Jill Biden started teaching English at St. Mark’s High School.

Jill Biden spent thirteen years teaching in public high schools, and from 1993-2008, she was an instructor at the Stanton/Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical & Community College. There, she taught English composition and remedial writing. In January 2007, at age 55, she received a Doctor of Education degree (Ed.D). 

Going back to 1975, she met then senator Joe Biden, who she later married in 1977 at the United Nations Chapel in New York City. 

When Joe Biden was elected vice president in 2008, Jill Biden focused on “advocating for community colleges, military families, and the education of women and girls around the world,” (whitehouse.gov). 

Dr. Biden worked to shed light onto the critical role that community colleges have in the nation’s economy, and even hosted the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges with President Obama. Jill Biden also became the honorary chair of the College Promise National Advisory Board, striving to make community colleges free for hard-working students.

Jill Biden’s efforts and achievements within advocating for community colleges will not go unnoticed as she continues to work for education. She will continue to teach writing at Northern Virginia Community College, while also balancing her duties as First Lady. It is clear that she is very passionate about education and teaching, and wants to do more as she is now First Lady. 

To show her appreciation to the military, Jill Biden launched an initiative to support service members, veterans, caregivers, their families, and survivors with First Lady Michelle Obama called Joining Forces. Along with Joining Forces she released a children’s book called Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops. 

In the course of her first White House tenure, Jill Biden traveled to about forty countries and visited military bases, as well as hospitals and refugee camps. While traveling to these countries, she advocated for education and economic empowerment for girls and women.  

Jill Biden has accomplished a lot while being second lady, but Jill Biden signaled that she’ll be a more active First Lady. 

Within five days of her new role as First Lady, Dr. Biden made a few virtual appearances before governors’ spouses, library officials, and young Latinos. In these meetings she promoted President Joe Biden’s call for national unity and his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief proposal. 

“We can’t do this alone,” she told the governors’ spouses’ meeting. “Congress will need to pass the legislation and, ultimately, it will take state and local leadership.”

In these meetings, she pledged that “empathy, resilience, diversity, learning and trust” will be the “foundation of the administration that we will build.”

Dr. Biden took on the role of top surrogate for the president, encouraging unity and promising that the administration will listen to all voices.

It is exciting to see a First Lady who wants to be involved in change, and Jill Biden is one that will put in hard work and effort to make a difference. The fact that she took her first days as First Lady to be involved within the country and the White House is amazing, and is something that we, as a nation, need.