Minnesota teacher gets State of the Union shoutout from President Biden

(FOX 9) - A Minnesota teacher was a guest of First Lady Jill Biden's during Thursday's State of the Union.

Keenan Jones of Plymouth, Minnesota, who is a teacher and author, got a shoutout from President Biden during the speech.

Biden was talking about student loan debt and opportunities for young people when he mentioned Jones. Jones was in the audience directly in front of the First Lady.

Here is the excerpt from the speech:

"I fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans including nurses firefighters and others in public service like Keenan Jones a public-school educator in Minnesota who’s here with us tonight.

"He’s educated hundreds of students so they can go to college now he can help his own daughter pay for college.  

"Such relief is good for the economy because folks are now able to buy a home start a business even start a family."

According to his website, Jones comes from a family of educators and works as an elementary teacher. The White House news release also lists him as a member of advocacy organization Education Minnesota.

The news release further explains: "In April 2023, Jones wrote an email to President Biden to thank him for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which eliminated his remaining student loan debt after 10 years of public service and allowed him to continue his teaching career. Jones is one of the nearly 800,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, servicemembers, and other public servants who have received student loan debt forgiveness since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration."