My Guest for the State of the Union Address

Dear Neighbor,

I hope this email reaches you and your family in good health and safety.

I am excited to share that Priscilla Higuera Valentine, a first generation American, a proud union educator with the Boston Teachers Union, and the daughter of a Colombian immigrant will join me as my honored guest to President Biden’s State of the Union Address this evening. Priscilla works as a bilingual ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in Roslindale and has received over $117,000 in student debt relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

I am inviting Priscilla as my guest to uplift her story, honor the educators of the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District and underscore the transformative impact of student debt cancellation. To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved almost $138 billion in student debt cancellation for nearly 4 million borrowers, including 793,000 public servants nationwide and 17,000 public servants in Massachusetts. We applaud these efforts and continue to press for additional student debt cancellation.

Priscilla has been a Boston Public Schools teacher for over 20 years and is a proud member of the Boston Teachers Union, where she serves as a union representative for her school. As a young, single mom, Priscilla took out loans to pursue her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in order to become a teacher. Like millions of other borrowers living under the crushing pressure of predatory, high-interest student loans, her student loans quickly began to impede her ability to create the life she had worked so hard for, and stood in the way of purchasing a home and saving for her children’s future. 

Priscilla applied for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, and ultimately had her entire student loan balance of $117,974.42 wiped out. 

Student debt cancellation is life-changing policy that is changing lives today, and Priscilla’s story is a powerful testament to why we must continue delivering this essential relief to as many borrowers as possible. And as someone who has dedicated her life to serving students and families in the Massachusetts 7th, I’m proud to have her as my guest this year and look forward to centering the lived experiences of educators, workers, and parents like her. I hope that all of Priscilla’s students from the Conley Elementary School in Roslindale are proud to see their teacher and their Congresswoman side by side at the nation’s capital.

President Biden will deliver his State of the Union Address tonight at 9pm ET, and you can tune in here.

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance with a federal agency, please don’t hesitate to visit my website Pressley.House.Gov or call my office at (617) 850-0040.

In service and solidarity,

Ayanna Pressley

Member of Congress