Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
First lady Jill Biden waves as she is introduced at The Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nev., Wednesday, March 9, 2022. The First Lady toured the Pennington Health Science Center and talked with students during her visit.
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 | 4:16 p.m.
RENO — First Lady Jill Biden wrapped up a three-day western trip promoting her husband's economic agenda with a tour Wednesday at a Nevada college that's using U.S. relief funds to help train students to meet growing demand for nurses, radiology and emergency medical technicians.
Biden visited training rooms with mock ambulances and an X-ray lab at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, where she chatted with students who said the American Rescue Plan grants they received were critical to keeping them in school and the programs running.
Savannah Terrana, who showed off a training mannequin in the lab with real human bones inside, said the $1,500 tuition grant she received “was a real game-changer for me.”
Samantha Ramirez, who's studying to become an EMT, said grant money allowed TMCC to purchase training equipment like they'll be using in the field, “so when we get out there, we know more about what we’re doing.”
Biden was joined at the campus in the shadow of the snow-topped Sierra by acting Assistant U.S. Labor Secretary Angela Hanks and Gov. Steve Sisolak and Lt. Gov. Lisa Cano Burkhead, two Democrats up for reelection in the western swing state.
She closed with a campaign-style speech repeating the theme of the president's economic agenda she touted in Arizona on Monday and Tuesday.
"I’ve seen what 'building a better America' means for real families like all of yours,” she said.
“It means investing in our workforce ... and it means working families have opportunities to train for great jobs, no matter where they live,” she said. “Programs like these change lives."
Republican National Committee spokesman Keith Schipper said her visit “does nothing to address the real issues facing Nevadans."
“The Biden administration is failing on the most important issues in Nevada right now, like record-high gas prices, skyrocketing inflation and the historic border crisis,” he said.
