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Washington, D.C. – Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio delivered a major speech on middle class opportunity in America. Committing himself to ensuring that the journey his parents made from immigrants to working middle class continues to be a reality, Rubio reached out to his constituents and asked that they take a minute to tell him their stories. In today’s installment of Marco’s Constituent Mailbox video series, Rubio reads two of these stories and responds to them.

Maureen, a nurse practitioner from Fort Walton Beach, told Rubio her story of middle class opportunity. After her parents divorced and her father went to prison, Maureen’s mother worked tirelessly so her three daughters could receive a good education and be successful. Maureen went on to ask how Rubio could help change the direction of the country. In his response, Rubio said, “We have to create an education system that addresses the reality of the 21st century student.” Rubio continued saying the 21st century student has “to be able to both work and go to school. We have to make it easier for them to do that. So we have to encourage innovation, and the innovation is already happening. But we have to make sure that nothing that we do in government discourages it.”

William, a surgical technologist from Fernandina Beach, shared his story as well. William and his wife, who is also a health care professional, are struggling financially due to the weak economy, and asked Rubio to help find a solution.

View Rubio’s video response here. For television stations interested in airing today’s response, a broadcast quality video is available here.