First lady Jill Biden, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to visit Connecticut on Wednesday

First lady Jill Biden will be in Connecticut on Wednesday along with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to shine a light on how American Rescue Plan funds are helping students impacted by the pandemic.

Biden and Cardona will fly into Tweed-New Haven Airport for a visit to Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, according to a release from the White House. At 1 p.m. at Albertus, Biden and Cardona will visit a Horizons National nonprofit summer learning program that serves pupils at local public schools with programs on English language arts, STEM, swimming and social-emotional learning activities.

Second-graders will read to Biden and Cardona from Gaia Cornwall’s book “Jabari Jumps” and discuss the book. Biden and Cardona will participate in a STEM LEGO activity, the release said. Horizons teachers, parents and students will hold a panel discussion and then an assembly.

After Connecticut, Biden and Cardona will fly to Detroit and then to Athens, Georgia, for two days of visits to similar summer learning programs.

A news release announcing the visit reads “these summer learning and enrichment programs work to ensure students have access to academic and mental health resources over the summer, and are ready to succeed when they return to school.”

Cardona is a native of Meriden and rose through the ranks of that city’s public-school system, later becoming the state’s education commissioner and then Secretary of Education.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.