President Donald Trump was with the fourth-grade kids at the St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando last Friday. When a 10-year-old girl told him she would like to own a business one day, the president encouraged her to make a lot of money and forget about entering politics.
Trump was in town with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for a "listening session" on school choice when he surprised a class of fourth-grade kids, according to Click Orlando. As he was shaking hands with the children, one of the girls told the president about her plans of owning a business.
The president told the girl that she had a good idea and encouraged her to make money. "But don't run for politics after," Trump joked.
The president also received a card from two other fourth graders. Trump joined them for a photo op and said, "We're going to make you famous," according to Yahoo.
The visit was intended to push the government's school choice or voucher program agenda. The school was pegged as a model for what could work as St. Andrew Catholic School is a private institution with one of the largest school voucher programs in Florida, per Daily Mail.
Florida has a Tax Credit Scholarship Program that helps disadvantaged families and their kids get into good private schools through vouchers. One school choice success story that Trump's team has been using as an example is the case of Denisha Merriweather who gained from Florida's program.
She was able to get into a good high school and college, and she's on her way to finishing her Master's degree. "Denisha is living proof that school choice can break the cycle of poverty and provide transformative change," Betsy DeVos wrote, via USA Today.
Aside from DeVos, Trump was also accompanied by his daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband and the president's senior adviser Jared Kushner, their daughter Arabella and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. About 150 protesters, however, were outside the school grounds.
