PORTSMOUTH — When she was a little girl, Ashley Adamson wanted to be a teacher so badly that she’d play one at home. She even owned a school bell, as a picture she keeps in her third-grade classroom at Hathaway School validates.

The 2021 R.I. Teacher of Year acquired a new school bell just recently — this one from The White House. It was given to her by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on Oct. 18, when 100 state Teachers of the Year from around the country were honored in the Rose Garden.

Attached to the bell was a quote from Dr. Biden: “Never stop ringing your bell. Never forget that the lives you change go on to change the world. Student by student, you perform miracles every day.”

Dr. Biden told the teachers her grandmother, who inspired her to become an educator, taught in an old-fashioned, one-room schoolhouse, and used to ring a brass bell to call students in. 

“Sometimes, Dr. Biden got to ring the bell,” said Adamson. “When her grandmother passed way, she didn’t inherit a big estate, but she inherited that bell.”

Dr. Biden’s gift and words about her grandmother reminded Adamson of her own inspiration — her beloved first-grade teacher in Barrington, Donna Carreiro. “I wanted to be just like her. I loved the way she made me and others feel. She made me believe in myself,” said Adamson, who graduated from Barrington High in 2000.

“The bell has come full circle.”

The “Mrs. Adamson comes to Washington” story began on Oct. 17, when the Council of Chief State School Officers planned a trip to the capital for every state Teacher of the Year for 2021 and 2020. However, they didn’t know for sure that a visit to the White House was included until about four weeks before the trip, when a formal letter of invitation from Dr. Biden arrived in their mailboxes.

Adamson had never been to Washington, D.C., so she was somewhat overwhelmed when she found herself inside the East Wing of the White House on Oct. 18. She and the other teachers immediately felt welcome, however.

“You walk in and there are guards everywhere, of course. But they were so appreciative of teachers and very excited to have us in the White House. They were talking to us, saying they were thankful for all the teachers they had in their lives. Here we are, thinking we were the lucky ones,” she said.

They walked by two musicians playing guitar and violin. “We all broke out in song when they started playing, ‘Stand by Me,’” she said.

After touring the Kennedy Garden, Dr. Biden came out and posed with each teacher — all 100 — for one-on-one professional portraits. They heard from Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, 2021 National Teacher of the Year Juliana Urtubey, and then Dr. Biden, who reminded teachers never to underestimate the powers they possess.

“Someone is standing a little taller because you helped her find the confidence she needed,” she said. “Someone is working a little harder because you pushed him to try. And someone is kinder because you showed her what that meant. Someone is braver because you helped him find his courage.”

Surprise — it’s the president

The First Lady ended her speech by saying, “There’s one more person who wants to say hello to you.”

Up until then, the teachers weren’t sure if President Biden would appear. But there he was. “We were honored just to be in the Rose Garden,” Adamson noted.

“You know, when you think about it, the single-most consequential people in the world, beyond our parents … is our teachers,” President Biden told them. “You’re the kite strings that lift our national ambitions aloft.”

For teachers who have experienced such trying times over the past 20 months due to COVID-19, it was powerful to hear such words of reassurance, she said.

During their time in the capital, the teachers also participated in professional learning sessions where they got ideas to bring back to the classroom, and all were treated to a private tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Google also gave teachers a choice of five different events, and Adamson selected a “Monuments by Moonlight” trolley tour. 

“We also had a variety of speakers including Jahana Hayes, who now serves on U.S. Congress. She’s a former National Teacher of the Year from Connecticut. She was extremely powerful and motivational, encouraging us to use our voice,” she said.

Adamson said she wasn’t representing just herself at the White House.

“Something they kept instilling in us was, ‘Who are you carrying with you on this trip?’ I’m carrying my past students, my current students, my future students, all the families, all the teachers from the entire State of Rhode Island. This is for all of us. The message that Dr. Biden conveyed was for all educators.”