<\/p>\n

First Lady Barbara Bush was a frequent visitor to Florida\u2019s Capitol City. She came to support her son before and after he was elected Governor, to campaign for him, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, was a major influence in Jeb Bush\u2019s efforts to improve students\u00a0 <\/span>reading\u00a0 <\/span>skills.<\/p>\n

In April 1992, more than six years before Jeb Bush was first elected Florida\u2019s Governor, Barbara Bush came to Sealey Elementary School. Her purpose: Donate a penny in an effort to teach students about large numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to collect a million pennies\u201d says then gifted students teacher Cheryl Cliett\u201d<\/p>\n

So they asked Barbara Bush to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe not only put in the last penny, she put in one penny more to start us on our next million\u201d recalls Special Needs Teacher Lea Reeves<\/p>\n

But one of the first things the First Lady did was demonstrate she knew where the cameras were located, bringing a laugh from the crowd as she re-arranged where her student host was standing.<\/p>\n

The First Lady had been invited by teachers Cheryl Cliett and Lea Reeves.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\u201dWhat do you remember about Barbara Bush, something you didn\u2019t know before you met her?\u201d Wee asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think how kind she was and how much she loved children\u201d responded Cliett.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole program was just kids doing it and Barbara was just so natural with everybody\u201d recalled Reeves.<\/p>\n

The First Lady spent 45 minutes that day at the School, telling students and teachers \u201cYou have absolutely confirmed what I have always felt in my heart.\u00a0 <\/span>Little things do count. Not just coins. But little acts of kindness, little pieces of knowledge, and individual people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She would be back in the Capitol for her son\u2019s first inauguration, his second, and sometimes just to visit.<\/p>\n

And of those people who worked for Jeb Bush, not one doubts that his mother had a major influence in his push to improve reading scores in Florida.<\/p>\n

And because Barbara Bush was Jeb\u2019s mother, her impact on Flordia goes far beyond the times she visited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  First Lady Barbara Bush was a frequent visitor to Florida\u2019s Capitol City. She came to support her son before and after he was elected Governor, to campaign for him, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, was a major influence in Jeb Bush\u2019s efforts to improve students\u00a0 reading\u00a0 skills. In April 1992, more than six […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43397,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43396\/revisions\/43397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}