PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - Students and teachers at a Pasco County school have a unique connection to the new President.

What You Need To Know

  • Joe Biden was vice president during his 2011 visit

  • He joined students for push-ups, lunch

  • Second-grade students who were there now in high school, recall his visit

  • More Pasco County headlines

President Biden visited Oakstead Elementary in Land O' Lakes in October 2011, when he was the Vice President.  

Megan Hermansen, principal of nearby Lake Myrtle Elementary, was an assistant principal at Oakstead back then. She remembers Biden going out of his way to spend time with the staff and students.

“He just joined in with the kids. They were excited he was there. He made sure to say hi to all of them and do what they were doing,” Hermansen said.

That even included doing some push-ups with students and in his suit and aviators.

Hermansen still has some items that Biden gave to the students, like a frisbee with VP seal and a stuffed animal of his dog, Champ.

“I don’t think many people can say they’ve met a Vice President or President, so I think that’s a really cool thing,” Hermansen said.

PHOTO: Then Vice President Biden joins students at Oakstead Elementary for a photo in October 2011.

Then Vice President Biden visited Oakstead Elementary to promote the American Jobs Act that the Obama Administration was trying to get passed in Congress. Oakstead was chosen, in part, because it was one of the largest elementary schools in the area.

Hermansen’s daughter Jillian was just a second grader then. She got a photo with the new president, a memory that now means even more in 11th grade.

“Now that I’m older, I realize that meeting him was a monumental moment in my life. Now he’s the President and he’s going to do great things,” Jillian said.

Amy Casey, currently an assistant principal at Lake Myrtle, was a third grade teacher at Oakstead in 2011. She says Biden took extra time to come into her classroom and took questions from the kids.

But it’s another memory that really stands out.

“He did eat some of the lunch we were eating. He ate some baked Cheetos off our plates. That’s my funny story to take away. He was just a regular person,” Casey said.

Whether it was eating lunch or shooting hoops, those students and teachers can now say they did it with the 46th President.

The jobs legislation that Biden was there for didn’t end up getting passed.  However, teachers and staff hope he visits again, now as the President.