A traumatic childhood helped assistant principal Ryan Sykes (VA ’19) develop survival skills and empathy that have propelled him to success as an educator.
A desire to bring equity into the classroom inspired Lauren Sepulveda (CT ’19) to teach social studies: “I believe our youth should be able to see themselves reflected in their history curriculum.”
A summer in a lab working on cancer drugs gave biology teacher Raisa Eady (AL '19) insight into the business of science and the wide variety of scientific careers—wisdom she’s passing along to her students.
Art teacher Claire Smullen has taught students from first grade to 12th, but she loves middle school, a time when “students are trying to figure out how they fit into the world.”
A government grant took Bill Sterrett (VA '08) to Pakistan to collaborate with local educators on middle school STEM projects. He learned as much as he taught.
After years as a celebrated educator in Tacoma, Nate Bowling (WA ’13) left the U.S. to teach in Abu Dhabi. The biggest difference: resources.
Chris Bessonette's (WY '18) immigrant students flourish at dual-language Munger Mountain Elementary School.
In addition to helming her kindergarten classroom at Madison Elementary in Norman, Hailey Couch (OK ’18) also leads the Climate Committee. Its goal: improving staff morale, boosting retention rates and creating authentic connections among students, staff and parents.
With guidance from Andrew Franz (NY ’17), four students from Buffalo win a national competition that sends their experiment on the effects of microgravity on bacterial growth to the International Space Station.
Just a few weeks after we surprised Becky Streff (NE ’18) with her Milken Award in North Bend, the Platte River overflowed its banks and flooded the town. As the community came together, the fifth-grade teacher turned the devastating floods into a teachable moment.
