This June marked the end of the 2025-2026 school year at Boston Collegiate Charter School and my first year teaching as an FAO Schwarz Fellow. After four snow days, two Fellowship retreats, and about 100 daily Diet Coke walks, I have learned so much from this past year. 

In August of 2025, I moved to Boston one day before my first day of new staff orientation. The extent of my prior experience in the city was a weekend in an airport hotel when I was in high school, and an overnight stay in Cambridge the day after I graduated from college to put my belongings in a storage unit. Since then, I’ve spent a year in a new job, in a new city, making new friends, and taking up new hobbies.

 I am excited to enter my second year of the Fellowship and the classroom with more knowledge and student relationships to build upon. This year, I worked with around 50 students in small groups for explicit literacy instruction. By the end of the first semester, over half of my students tested out of needing literacy instruction. This is the work I’ve been most proud of, because it challenged me the most. 

Working with students below grade level in reading has presented numerous obstacles. Despite difficult moments (working with kids is not easy!) I have made incredibly rewarding relationships with my students and their growth has made me so proud. While the work was not what I expected, I am all the better for it. Teaching has given me newfound resilience, and has made me a more flexible thinker who is more readily able to view things from different perspectives. 

I have also learned about a new level of accountability and motivation through my strategic project, which has been incredibly self-driven. I have spent the year documenting best practices at the school and have started the large undertaking of creating a guide for processes and procedures for our student support team. After four years in college chasing one deadline after the next, I am working on one larger, long-term product, which is quite the change of pace. 

Another adjustment I’ve had to make since college is changing my mindset from student to professional. While I still strive to maintain curiosity, I have learned to have more confidence in myself as a leader and decision maker. 

Speaking of mindset, I have gone through days upon days of professional development, learning about pedagogical philosophies and teaching strategies. The cultures of thinking that we cultivate at our school, including having a growth mindset and prioritizing metacognition, have become dispositions that I have adopted. To enculturate these mindsets in our students, I have had to practice them myself, learning alongside my students. I am constantly pushing my own mental flexibility and reflecting on my thinking. 

The idea of metacognition (thinking about the way you think) has been incredibly helpful as I studied for and took the LSAT this year. I have also become even more inquisitive, questioning myself and my students at all times. I’ve kept a guiding question on a sticky note on my laptop all year. It asks: what makes you say that? This question has guided my inquisition and reflection all year–forcing me to always dive deeper. 

During my annual review with my supervisor earlier this month, I received one of the best compliments I’ve ever heard. She said that my work this year displayed how great a thinker I was, which is exactly what we are trying to inculcate in our students. 

With all the ups and downs of adjusting to being a first-year teacher, I could not have done any of it without the support of my brilliant cohort of other first-year teachers. Sometimes, all you need to save your sanity is a daily walk to grab a Diet Coke with your coworker. I’ve definitely learned about how to manage work stress through taking a step back, getting outside, moving my body, and having people to lean on. 

All of this has also complemented other lessons learned outside of work. I started climbing, ran a half marathon, and had to navigate housing issues. I also studied for and took the LSAT, wrote law school essays, and worked extensively on my applications. I’ve gotten to know so many different corners of the city. I immersed myself in a completely new hobby and have made so many new friends through this hobby, work, and more. All of these experiences have increased how much I value a growth mindset, metacognition, reflection, and resilience. 

This upcoming year, I will be applying to law school, and I know that I will be all the more prepared as a law student and lawyer with this first year of experiences under my belt. I am excited to enter my second year of the Fellowship and the classroom with more knowledge and student relationships to build upon. I will be taking on high school debate and middle school mock trial for the first time, and I cannot wait to see what these new leadership opportunities will bring. 

One year ago, I had been so sad to graduate and leave my amazing community at Williams College after four years. I couldn’t imagine life being anywhere near comparable to the joy and mental stimulation I had experienced in college. I had no idea what real adult life entailed, but I can now look back and realize I had nothing to fear. Although I am no longer a student, I am still a thinker.

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Dear Debora from 2025…at the beginning of your second semester as a senior at Smith College, you were probably wondering: Where will I end up after I graduate? What do I want to do? What do I love? What am I passionate about? What am I willing to give my time to?

At the time, I found myself looking through my old high school email and found information about the FAO Schwarz Fellowship. It was sent to me by a mentor of mine from high school. I read the description, saw iMentor listed as a host organization, and instantly applied.

As the application process progressed, every email with updates about the Fellowship made me feel even more nervous. But all of the interviews I did made me realize something I hadn’t really seen before: I actually have pretty great skills. I just needed to be more open about them and believe in them.

Then, I received the offer email. For maybe the third or fourth time in my life, I was completely speechless. 

Well… probably top five!

Now, fast forward to June of 2026, after finishing my first full school year at New York City public high schools as a Fellow at iMentor, I can honestly say I’m feeling bittersweet.

These last few weeks have been filled with wrapping up the school year and attending iMentor end-of-year events, where students and mentors get to connect, celebrate, and have fun together.

Since I work across three different schools, and for both 11th and 12th graders, I’ve the honor of being at majority of these events. Every single one was filled with so much joy, laughter, and, of course, some sadness—especially for the 12th graders, who are about to start a completely new chapter of their lives. Hearing the seniors and mentors share words to each other made me realize that this is what it’s all about:

It’s waking up at 7AM, getting ready to head to school. It’s staying until 3PM, and sometimes even 8PM.

It’s hearing:“Miss, where have you been?”

“Miss, can you help me with this assignment?”

"Miss, what is my grade?” or even

“Miss, can I use the bathroom?”

I’ve grown used to the “Miss” role. It stopped being just a title, but a part of my identity. When I heard a few seniors call me “Miss” for what could be the last time, it truly hit me.I’m so incredibly proud of every single one of them and their growth.

Some of them are scared, especially because many are first-generation college students. However, I have no doubt in their abilities and I know many will do great things in any pathway they choose.

This is what it means to work in social impact. It’s seeing the impact you make—not just hearing about it from someone else, but actually witnessing it yourself. Watching students grow. Watching mentors show up. Watching relationships that started with two strangers become something so meaningful. And while it isn’t easy work, it is deeply important work

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