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Empower the future through teaching

By Nikki Bowen "08

This February, my students joined their peers across the country to celebrate Black History Month. My primarily African-American students became fired up as they learned about the incredible contributions their ancestors have made to society, often going home to research the figures on their own and coming back into school the next morning with notes about what they had discovered. As the principal of an all-girls school in Brooklyn, nothing could excite me more than seeing my students so engaged and passionate about what they’re learning. I know the odds they face — just 6 percent of students growing up in low-income communities like them will graduate high school by the time they are 25. But I know that with confidence and drive, they can overcome those odds.

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I first got involved in education because of my own experiences in school. Growing up, my mother insisted I get up much earlier than I wanted to every morning to attend a school across town. The kids on my block, who all walked to the neighborhood school, would tease me as I waited for the bus. Once I got to class, I was further ostracized. Until fourth grade, I was the only black person in the room. It didn’t take long to realize that I was both poor and different.

But my mom knew how important a great education was, and once I got to Princeton, I understood why. Through the Princeton Inmate Outreach Program, I tutored inmates at Albert C. Wagner Prison. I was shocked by what I found — so many of them couldn’t read, write or do basic math. As I learned more about the correlation between illiteracy and incarceration rates, I decided to put my law school plans on hold. As a lawyer, I couldn’t fix the problems that would land my clients in my office in the first place. As a teacher, I could have a hand in changing their trajectories.

So I joined Teach For America, determined to give my kids the basic foundational skills that would set them up for future success. Some of my students struggled — one in particular, Challah, struggled immensely with reading. But one rainy, dreary morning, as I sat in the cafeteria and greeted my kids, Challah bounded up to me with a grin. “Good morning!” she cried. Then she pulled out the book she had been reading — above her grade level, no less — and excitedly started telling me all about what she casino online was learning from the book. Against all odds, Challah had learned to read. In her eyes and mind, there was nothing she couldn’t do.

Whenever I feel defeated or frustrated, I think of that morning with Challah. I think of how incredible it is to see the impact of a tough job and realize that we, as educators, are helping shape the future. My girls have and will continue to face challenges in life simply because they are black and female. But we can give them the tools and skills they need to rise above those challenges and create futures for themselves that defy the statistics – the ones that tell them they are unlikely to graduate high school, go to college and break the cycles of poverty into which they were born.

We have a long way to go as a country before we truly achieve justice for all. To fix the systemic oppression that has created the gross inequality of the present will take the hard, dedicated work of countless leaders and change-makers — many who have experienced it first-hand, others who bear witness to it from further away. We must work toward these long-term changes as well as the immediate, urgent opportunities to change the way our students view themselves and their futures.

As teachers, we can play a central role in this. Everyday, we can remind our kids that their thoughts, ideas, identities and opinions are important. We can share our own stories so that when our kids look to the front of the room, they see a little bit of themselves reflected back. We can remind them that they matter, that they always have and that they always will.

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Nikki Bowen "08 is an alumna of Teach For America New York City. She is the principal of Excellence Girls Charter School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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