Total Catholic

Laura Bush chose a Catholic school in Washington DC as the last school she visited while America’s First Lady.

Mrs Bush, who has visited countless schools in the United States and overseas countries, made her last school visit on January 13 to Little Flower School in the Washington suburb of Bethesda.

"Today is my very last school visit while my husband is president," she told the students and staff. "I wanted to end my school visit with a terrific school like Little Flower."

She praised the school for receiving the US Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Schools Award last autumn in recognition of its academic achievement. "That's really a wonderful accomplishment," she said. "Congratulations on being such smart kids."

Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl introduced Mrs Bush and noted the first lady was "no stranger to education and no stranger to our schools". A year ago, she visited Holy Redeemer School in Washington.

Both visits were to commemorate Catholic Schools Week, an annual event which will be celebrated from January 25-31 with the theme "Catholic Schools Celebrate Service."

Mrs Bush told the school assembly that as a former librarian and a teacher she has always been interested in education. She noted that many of the first schools in the United States were Catholic schools. She also urged members of the school community to take time during Catholic Schools Week to talk to government leaders about the importance of Catholic education.

Mrs Bush told the students she had cleaned out her office and found many children's books which she was donating to their library.

"This is a wonderful day for Little Flower," said Sr Rosemaron Rynn, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the school's principal.