Rolling Meadows High School teen who sat with Jill Biden at State of the Union honored by school board

Township High School District 214 recognized Rolling Meadows High School sophomore Kate Foley Thursday night on the heels of Foley’s trip to Washington, D.C. as a guest of first lady Jill Biden at the State of the Union address.

Foley, 15, had first met Biden when the first lady visited Rolling Meadows High to meet students who were part of the district’s Career Pathways program. Foley, who studies computer integrated manufacturing through the program, said she eventually hopes to be a biomedical engineer.

“Kate and Dr. Biden truly shared a connection during the round table discussion,” district spokesperson Patrick Mogge said at the school board meeting.

RMHS is one of six high schools that make up Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214.

Foley was seated next to the first lady, as one of her 26 guests, for the speech delivered by President Joe Biden to Congress.

“Kate, we are so proud of you and look forward to seeing more great things from you,” Mogge said at the school board meeting.

At the meeting, district leaders showed a video of the first lady’s visit to RMHS in November, and her subsequent phone call to Foley and the teen’s mother, Dana, before delivering a formal thank you to Kate for representing the district in Washington.

“Just amazing,” board President Bill Dussling said. “Very good.”

Foley and her mother told Pioneer Press they were in D.C. for two days. Despite being nervous at the outset, Kate said her nerves improved over the course of the event.

“Everyone from the staffers to the Secret Service, everyone was going out of their way to be comforting and welcoming,” she said.

The Foleys had several chances to meet other guests at the State of the Union, including activists against substance abuse and addiction, Holocaust survivors and famed rock musician Bono — who Foley said had to make a mad dash for the bus that was meant to take the guests to the Capitol building where the State of the Union was held. The ride also afforded the chance to get to know the other invitees, Kate Foley said.

“We were all laughing and talking ... because we all had to sit on a bus to go to the Capitol, and we were all talking to each other about why we were there, what we’re doing,” she said.

Dana Foley said meeting the other guests at the reception following the address also showed them how different the circumstances were that had brought them to the State of the Union.

“Kate was there for a very happy, uplifting reason,” she said. “And we were with a group of ...npeople who had been there because of a lot of sadness in their lives.”

Asked what she’d taken away from the president’s speech, Foley said “how much actually goes on that I don’t notice.”

“I was sitting down listening to it and was like, ‘oh my god, like I didn’t even notice ... that was happening,’” she said.