As an educator, one of the questions I find myself asking more and more is this: How do we prepare students for opportunities they’ve never seen? Every day, students walk into classrooms ready to learn reading, writing, math, science, and history. Those subjects are important, but I’ve learned that some of the most meaningful lessons happen outside the classroom. Over the past several months, I’ve had the privilege of attending leadership conferences, collaborating with educators and...

At Next Scholar Up (NSU), we spend a lot of time talking about access—access to learning, opportunity, mentorship, and pathways that help students see themselves as capable and prepared for what’s next. But recently, I was reminded that access isn’t only something students need. It’s something adults—educators, parents, and mentors—sometimes forget to claim for themselves. In education, access is often framed around systems: curriculum, accommodations, technology, or programs. Those things...

A reflection on care, clarity, and classroom boundaries One of the most challenging parts of being an educator isn’t managing behavior—it’s managing the emotions that come after we do the right thing. There are moments in our work when we realize that being a safe space has slowly turned into being a detour. When support, offered with the best intentions, unintentionally begins to interfere with a student engaging in the very structures designed to help them grow. Recently, I had to reflect...