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Alumni Spotlight: Rasheed Thompson, School Leader

This Black History Month, we are highlighting Teach For America-Las Vegas Valley corps members and alumni working to address inequity in and outside of school systems. 


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By The TFA Editorial Team

February 7, 2017

In my role as a founding administrator of the first Marzano Academy, a new public magnet school opening this fall on the east side, I am inspired each day by the possibilities for our students, our community, and for each of us to affect change. As the co-founder of Marzano Academy, I have the incredible opportunity to rethink, redesign, and challenge status quo thinking in a school setting.

 

Having seen first-hand the opportunities for leaders to affect change, I am more passionate than ever around the need for strong leaders, especially leaders of color, to support, empower, connect, create, and uplift. While other regions may have more robust and developed leadership pipelines, the Las Vegas Valley is the wild, Wild West. In Las Vegas, if you can think it, you can create it. Thankfully, some people are running with that entrepreneurial spirit. The number of tremendous alumni doing some truly incredible work continues to grow, but as many of us have learned the hard way, this is not a game you can win by yourself.

 

As a burgeoning educational leader, I have learned the power of partnership. While I am blessed to be able to call many of my greatest inspirations and mentors friends, I also know that the true impact of the TFA alumni network is just starting. So, I ask that you reach out, reconnect, and continue to work to strengthen your communities. As a movement, we must be better and do better. This means coming together to support, inspire, and challenge ourselves, our communities, and the status quo. Together, we rise!