Ivanka Trump got a small taste of life as a normal member of the public on Tuesday, when she hopped on a commercial flight in order to return to Washington, D.C. after a solo trip to Detroit.
Of course, the 35-year-old daughter of President Donald Trump didn’t have quite the same experience as the average traveler, and was escorted on her flight, and subsequent walk through the airport, by a group of burly Secret Service agents while being snapped by photographers.
The mother-of-three, who traveled to the Midwest in order to promote her bid to get more girls coding, looked incredibly chic as she made her way out of the airport, wearing a bright orange-red shirt and a blue-and-red pinstripe skirt, however she had changed out of the gold high heels she was seen wearing earlier in the day in favor of some comfy flats.
One of us! Ivanka Trump was seen at Reagan National Airport on Tuesday evening after flying commercial to return from Detroit
VIP: The 35-year-old, who was escorted through the airport by a group of Secret Service agents, wore a pair of comfy flats to make the trip, removing the heels she donned earlier
Following in the footsteps of almost every high profile person who has been photographed on their way out of an airport, Ivanka accessorized her look with a pair of dark sunglasses.
She also added some funky navy earrings to complete the look.
The strappy metallic heels that she had worn earlier in the day, during her panel appearance, were nowhere to be seen, suggesting Ivanka may have had an aide on hand to help her with any additional wardrobe items.
Ivanka’s trip on the commercial flight is thought to be her first official trip not made on Air Force One or a chartered private plane – and comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price sparked outrage over his private jet spending spree.
Price came under fire last week for using charter jets for government trips on three consecutive days, including a round trip between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia – a distance of just 137 miles – that cost taxpayers $25,000.
The businesswoman, who has sparked a controversy of her own in recent days for using private email at the White House, was no doubt very keen to avoid causing similar public fury.
Making a statement: Ivanka visited Detroit to talk about a new public and private commitment to get coding taught in public schools
Wardrobe change! The businesswoman wore a pair of metallic heels for her appearance on the panel, however she changed into a pair of comfy flats for her trip back to D.C.
Speaking out: Ivanka sat alongside Code.org’s Hadi Partovi (left), who talked about how public schools weren’t equal, especially in access to STEM
Ivanka made the solo trip to Detroit to talk abut new public and private investments into teaching more American kids to code, having been at her father’s side on Monday when he greenlit $200 million in grants to go toward STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs.
Speaking as part of a panel, Ivanka noted that the goal of having computer science classes taught at every public school in five years was ‘incredibly doable’ and she wanted to ‘create excitement and enthusiasm’ for the subject as well, especially among minorities and young girls.
‘I do think we live in a time where we’re all so inspired by entrepreneurship and innovation … and so I think that coding can be aspirational, it should be aspirational, it should be exciting, we need to make it exactly that for our students,’ she said during the discussion, which was organized by the Internet Association, a group that represents a majority of brand-name internet companies.
As for the initiative, on Monday the White House announced a $200 million commitment for Department of Education grants to go toward funding STEM and computer science education in K-12 schools.
That sum was more than matched by internet and tech companies on Tuesday, with $300 million in private funds allocated to be spent on educational endeavors.
Goal: On Monday, Ivanka watched on as President Trump signed an order to give $200 million in Department of Education grants to the cause of increasing access to STEM course work
Celebration: Ivanka was joined by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (back left) as Trump signed the memorandum which she spearheaded
Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Salesforce committed $50 million each, while Lockheed Martin pledged $25 million for the effort and Accenture, General Motors and Pluralsight each giving $10 million, according to the White House pool report.
Since taking a role in her father’s White House, Ivanka Trump has spoken about matching curriculum with plausible job opportunities and she continued that theme today.
But she also advised that kids needed to not just be coding for their future career’s sake – explaining that the skill set could be fun to learn and should inspire passion too.
‘I think just generally when you’re young that is the point in time where you should, with wild abandon, really see what it is that you enjoy doing,’ she said.
She suggested kids should try a lot of things, though also pointed out that the opportunity for learning computer science should be there.
‘Because one of the lessons that I grew up with and I found to be true my whole life, the people who really achieve great things, the people who are successful in the context of their company or business leaders running a company, they are all deeply passionate and love what they do,’ Ivanka said.
Learning: The mother-of-three has been teaching her six-year-old daughter Arabella to code at home, sharing this image of the duo working hard over the summer
On the panel, she sat alongside Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi who drew attention to who public schools across the US aren’t equal, which is particularly problematic when it comes to STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – course work.
‘A student’s chance to study shouldn’t be about the neighborhood they grew up [in] or the color of her skin,’ he argued.
He also applauded the private-sector companies for getting involved.
‘Americans expect [their] tech industry to address these things and today they are putting their money where their mouth is,’ Partovi said.
The first daughter will be putting her own words into action Wednesday when she visits a school, alongside Partovi and Microsoft President Brad Smith to help kids learn code.
Ivanka already got a dose of coding education over the summer, alongside her daughter Arabella, though recently admitted it turned into the six-year-old instructing her.
‘Tomorrow we’re going to be coding in a public school and as part of a mission to get kids and students excited about code,’ the first daughter told the crowd today. ‘I look forward to continuing to do that.’