In college, I went to my chemistry professor’s office hours about two times a week, and not just when I was taking his class. From freshman to senior year, I would come in with ideas brewing and we would often leave and grab coffee somewhere else. It was not until the last two weeks of my final year at Morehouse that my professor looked across the table at me and said, “You know what? This may be the first time we have talked about chemistry since you came here!” I know that sounds odd, especially since I was graduating in a couple of weeks with a degree in chemistry, but that was the wonderful thing about having a professor who cared about me as both a student and a person.
When I asked him what he thought about me postponing my graduate school aspirations to apply for Teach For America, he did not write me off immediately as many others had. He instead asked why. I told him that I wanted to join the ranks of teachers like him and Mr. Seegars, one of my high school teachers who also started out as a Teach For America corps member. Both of these men had recognized that every student deserves a teacher that cares about them holistically, and I wanted to do the same for a new generation of young people. I also wanted to give back to the same community in Atlanta in which I grew up myself.
I’m now teaching at Langston Hughes High School right here in my hometown, and I find myself inspired on a regular basis by those teachers who made me who I am today. For example, it’s because of Mr. Seegars and his inaugural mock trial team that I was determined to start my school’s first creative writing club. It’s important to me that my students at Langston Hughes see the real me outside of my chemistry lessons on atomic theory, and that they know that I dance when I am happy, just as Mr. Seegars would every time we gave a good objection in mock court. Mr. Seegars represented much more than an instructor focused only on the material I would need to pass a test. He was a man who cared, a man I could admire, a man I could aspire to become.
I also think often of Dr. Kailasa, another high school teacher who came equipped with high expectations and a passion for her students. One day in her honors Chemistry class, I vividly remember getting an 85 on an exam. When I found out it was the highest in the class, I asked if she was proud of me. Without missing a beat, she said, “I cannot be proud of work that is less than your best.” Her answer shocked me, but after she said that to me, I was intent on showing her my best. I stayed in her class during all of my lunches and after school doing practice problems and reading. When I looked through her eyes, it was not chemistry that I saw, but rather my own potential for greatness. She would accept nothing less than the best I had to offer.
It is because of these educators that I made the choice to stand in my own classroom today. Dr. Kailasa still mentors me to this day, and earlier this year, I stood with Mr. Seegars at TFA’s 25th Anniversary Summit in Washington D.C., overjoyed by the sense of community I felt. Surrounded by 15,000 other people working within education and in low-income communities, we were just two of many people, both inside and outside this organization, who have joined the battle to bring educational equity to every child in this country.
Students deserve teachers who expect the world of them. As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, I don’t know where I’d be without teachers like these. And I hope that one day, I too will stand alongside my former students as they step up as leaders in the fight toward an excellent education for all.
Matthew Kelley is an Atlanta native and teaches science at Langston Hughes High School. He is a 2015 Teach For America corps member.