Many of the high school students Briana Morales '17 teaches have never ventured beyond the 89 blocks that contain the city of East St. Louis, Illinois. One in three live in a household that survives on $15,000 or less each year. And, when they enter her classroom, many are silently shouldering experiences no child should ever carry.
Morales is an English teacher at the Wyvetter Younge Alternative Center in one of the most challenged, high-poverty school districts in the country.
It is exactly where she wants to be.
"All kids want to feel as if they are seen and heard, and that they belong. And, as a teacher, you have a huge opportunity to do that, to be what they need. That is what St. Ambrose taught me," she said.
When Morales decided to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from St. Ambrose, she ventured out without any parental support - emotional or financial. She was a first-generation student, supported in part by a Freeman Pollard Scholarship, who carried a love for words and a dream to be an educator.
While at St. Ambrose, there were times she struggled. She questioned why she deserved a private college education or even the summer teaching fellowship she was awarded in Boston. Wondered whether she had what it took to teach, reach and inspire students. Whether she should continue her education.
Her questions, tears and doubts were put to rest by professors and mentors who provided just what Morales needed.
"They would tell me, ‘You have to remember how far you've come and you can't give up now because there is someone who needs what you can give. You need to trust and believe in yourself,'" she recalled.
"They showed me how to build connections with students by sharing their own experiences and letting me know they cared," Morales added.
Today, Morales does the same. She listens, reminds students of their potential and value, and that they are never alone. She shares her past struggles, doubts, and how she moved forward. And she encourages them to keep going.
"My professors had a huge impact on a lot of the things I do now," she said. "If I ever have to break away from a lesson because a student needs to talk, at first it just seems like it is one more thing I have to do. Then I remember it was one more thing for my professors, too, but they sat with me in those moments and talked with me anyway, and they made me feel like what I was saying mattered," Morales said.
"They gave me an example of how I should be as a teacher, and I am so thankful for having those relationships with them."
Share This Story
