Dan Willever’s students at New Jersey’s Ramsey High School collect oral histories from war veterans and presented diplomas to two men who dropped out 75 years ago to serve in World War II. “Students may forget what they read out of a textbook, but they will never forget that day,” says Dan (NJ ’19). “I hope the world will be better off for it.”
Ben Nguyen (NV ’19) wants his students to remember that success means learning to persevere through adversity and frustration: “Failure is a great teacher.”
For psychology teacher Alison Ter Horst (SD ’19), success as a student means loving others, respecting your peers and personal growth.
Science teacher Liz Landes encourages students to stretch and take risks: “Staying in your comfort zone is not conducive to true learning.”
Through a prestigious fellowship for STEM educators, Amara Alexander (AL ’16) is spending the 2019-20 school year at the Library of Congress.
Erin Wyatt (MD ’19) sees teaching diversity and tolerance as a professional mandate: “We have the responsibility to produce young people with the highest level of integrity and respect for all.”
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.”
