First Lady Michelle Obama
WASHINGTON — An enduring tradition of the State of the Union is the long list of special guests who sit with the First Lady during the speech — and this year is no different, with Colorado twice represented.
During the address, these folks often are tagged by the president as either stars from the past year or examples of a policy the commander-in-chief wants to highlight. It’s a bit of stagecraft that dates back to Ronald Reagan and the oratory tool has been successful enough that each president since Reagan has .
(For a good read on how the tradition began, National Journal ).
Joining Michelle Obama on Tuesday will be a pair of Coloradans: Carolyn Reed, owner of the Silver Mine Subs chain, and William Elder, Jr. of Englewood. Elder survived childhood cystic fibrosis and is now a medical student.
Here are their bios provided by the White House:
Carolyn Reed (Denver, CO)Letter Writer, Small Business Owner
Carolyn Reed wrote to the President about how she was able to expand her small business and open an additional Silver Mine Subs shop in Denver thanks to a loan from the Small Business Administration. In her note, she also mentioned that she looked forward to benefiting from the Affordable Care Act, and currently she and her husband, David, are enrolled in the Colorado state exchange. Earlier this year in Denver, the President had dinner with Carolyn and other Coloradoans who wrote to him. The day after their meeting, Carolyn and her husband – inspired by the President’s call and the story of another letter writer – announced that they would give their hourly employees a raise to $10.10. Carolyn and David now own seven Silver Mine Subs shops, and they are looking to continue their expansion. They have six children, four of whom work for their growing business.
William Elder, Jr. (Englewood, CO)
Medical School Student
William Elder, Jr. graduated from Stanford, and is currently a third year medical student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Ohio. Bill was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was eight years old, at a time when most cystic fibrosis patients were only expected to live to early adulthood. But thanks to a unique collaboration between the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, patients, researchers, and a pharmaceutical company, Bill, now 27, expects to live a long, full life. He benefits from a medication that targets the underlying cause of the disease for a small subset of cystic fibrosis patients. Inspired by his doctors and care team, Bill plans to become a family practitioner with a focus on preventative care. Bill’s story is a testament to the promise of precision medicine, an emerging approach to treatment that takes into account patients’ individual characteristics, such as their genetic make-up, to improve treatment.
