SOUTH LYON, Mich. – On Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, President Donald J. Trump will deliver his second State of the Union Address.
READ: President Trump’s State of the Union speech 2019: Here’s what you should know
Emily Parris is a teacher at Centennial Middle School in South Lyon. She’s known to be an advocate for her students and she will be joining Rep. Haley Stevens in Washington D.C. for the address.
Parris said she thought telemarketers and spam were trying to reach her when she was chosen, but it was not fake.
“I’m so honored someone wants the perspective of an everyday teacher,” Parris said.
The principal at Centennial said Parris is the perfect choice and the perfect advocate for special education.
“She embodies everything you want in a teacher -- Goes out of her way, always has a smile on her face,” said Principal Brian Toth. “To have someone like that represent the whole school? She’s the perfect person to do so.”
Parris has been teaching for eight years. In her five years in South Lyon, she was worked to be as involved as possible. She coaches the 8th grade volleyball team and powderpuff football, and is an assistant for the Where Everybody Belongs program -- an orientation program that aims to make students feel comfortable in their first year.
But Parris’ real passion is special education and she said she is excited to talk to lawmakers about the need for more funding and what that funding would mean.
Trump is scheduled to start speaking at 9 p.m. Tuesday to a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives. The speech will be broadcast live on NBC (WDIV Local 4 in Detroit) and also will be streamed live here on ClickOnDetroit.com.
After, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union address and Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas will deliver the Spanish language response to the speech.