Teach For America helps to inspire students

I knew I was exactly where I needed to be when Stephanie looked up at me after finishing her math exam and said, “I did it.” I had challenged my students to grow two grade levels in math in one year – undoubtedly a significant feat that I knew would be difficult to attain. But for Stephanie, it wasn’t enough. Even as a sixth-grader, her focus was on completing the same problems her cousins in high school were working on. Her passion was math, and she pushed me, her mother and her grandmother to set the bar even higher. It was my first year of teaching special education students in Philadelphia as part of the Teach For America program, and Stephanie was one of the dozens of bright, young kids that I had the pleasure of working with each day.