As a teacher of history, government and law at Forest Park High School in Baltimore, Darrin Brozene discovered that “if students connect with you, you can push them to excel.”
When Zulema Naegele thinks of her childhood, she says being an educator was far from her mind. The eldest of five children raised in Mesa, Arizona, she never dreamed that one day she would teach and then become a high school principal.
“I’m the oldest of 30+ cousins and was always the one to line them up and help them all hit the piñata,” she says. “But I didn’t want to be their teacher!”
I write to you today with a heavy heart as we once again confront the devastating reality of a school shooting. This time, in Georgia, a 14-year-old student took lives, injured others, and left a community of students, educators, family and friends shattered, grappling with grief and searching for answers.