Second gentleman Doug Emhoff on Wednesday joined forces with the nation’s newest military service to chat with elementary school students about the importance of an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Emhoff and members of the less than five-year-old U.S. Space Force, including its Lt. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt, stopped by Takoma Elementary School in Washington to give remarks and watch a balloon rocket ship competition with more than two dozen fourth and fifth graders.
A handful of Space Force members – or Guardians, as they are officially called – gave the students a lesson on space and led them in making rockets out of balloons ahead of the second gentleman’s arrival.
“It's great to see you engaged,” Emhoff told the students during brief remarks once he entered. “When we walked in, you didn't even look up because it meant you were really excited and interested in the work that you're doing at your tables.”
“And that made us very happy because it's important to learn about science,” he continued. “It’s important to learn about technology, science, space, all the things that are really going to be huge things in the future.”
In Dec. 2022, the White House released what it branded a national vision for science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine – or STEMM, outlining a list of steps that federal agencies as well as companies are taking to address inequities and barriers.
It was billed as part of President Joe Biden’s efforts to “power a new generation of American innovation.” The second gentleman’s event in Washington took place on the same day Biden announced billions in new federal funding from his CHIPS and Science Act for Intel to construct and expand new facilities in the U.S. – building on Biden’s bid to bring semiconductor production back to America from Asia.
Biden’s budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year unveiled earlier this month requests 1.4 billion for STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – education and workforce development programs. The White House noted the budget seeks to emphasize programs that work to bring more women, girls and people of color into the science and technology fields.
Wednesday’s event also took place during Women’s History Month, something Emhoff referenced in his remarks.
“As the first second gentleman, supporting my wife, the first vice president – so it's important for you to know that,” Emhoff told the students. “I don’t work as a lawyer anymore. I took a step back so I could support Kamala Harris being the first woman vice president.”
The second gentleman – or “second man” as one student called him, prompting Emhoff to thank the student for his “new name” and say he would tell the vice president when she asks how his day was – noted he participated in a similar event with students in London late last year.
“Kids just like you on the other side of the ocean doing this exact same thing,” he said.
“You should dream big, and you will dream big and achieve lots of amazing things,” Emhoff said, wrapping up his remarks. “Because I know that the president and my wife, the vice president, are building a world in which you really can do anything you want.”