Biden congratulates the 2022 national teacher of the year

President Joe Biden congratulated the 2022 national teacher of the year on Wednesday by offering a deeply personal story saluting school leaders who helped him overcome a serious childhood stutter, decades before he had White House aspirations.

During a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, the president and first lady Jill Biden cheered Ohio history teacher Kurt Russell, the 2022 national teacher of the year, and finalists for the award who gathered from each state.Biden has talked openly about battling a childhood stutter in the past, including while running for president in 2020. But he stressed on Wednesday the importance of teachers in helping him with that effort.Russell summed up his profession by saying it was important that his students "see themselves as he sees them with unlimited potential and full of gifts."