I want kids who look like me to see someone who looks like them and made it

samantha sartin

GYO 7th grade teacher

Chicago, Illinois

I grew up in Chicago, first on the South Side and then the North Side. My family moved to Rogers Park by the time I was in high school. I went for a couple of years, but then dropped out.  I just stopped going. I was bored and peer pressure got to me. My friends weren’t going to school either.

By the time I was 19, I was a single mother with two daughters. But I didn’t want to be a stereotype. I had gotten my GED and I was determined to beat the odds. People say someone like me would never receive a college degree. I was determined to prove them wrong.

I went to community college. I worked at a day care and then later as a nurse’s assistant. For a time, I lived in homeless shelters.

Then I went to college and started to study to become a teacher. I knew for a while that I wanted to be a teacher, but it took a few semesters for me to figure out that I was really motivated by the social justice aspect of teaching. I really want to teach in the inner city, in poor neighborhoods where a lot of kids don’t know anyone who’s been to college.

One of my classmates was in Grow Your Own Teachers and she told me how supportive the program was. At first, I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to focus on how to finish the program I was already in but she was really persistent. I met the GYO coordinator and went to the meetings and .. it clicked! GYO helped me think about why I want to be a teacher and the program connected me to like-minded people who want to teach for the same reasons that I do.

I want to teach in a school in Back of the Yards or West Garfield Park. I’m looking to be in a classroom with children who other people write off. These kids may be just a little tougher but I think it will make me a better teacher. I want to work with kids who look like me because I want them to see someone who looks like them who made it.

I believe that everyone can control their own destiny. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do. I’m also really big on eliminating fear from your life.

My teaching license will be in K through 9th grade. My specialty is math and science and I really want to teach middle school. I’m endorsed in all middle school core subjects and in English as a Second Language.

Now that I have a bachelors degree, I’m already working on getting a doctorate. I’m going to graduate school in the spring. Eventually, I would like to be the CEO of CPS. Or any school district. I would have even more impact.

Grow Your Own Teachers was a transformative experience for me. They transformed my entire vision of teaching and helped put so many things into perspective. It made me the teacher that I am. I always felt welcome in the program. It was never competitive or combative. When I was the new person, I never felt nervous or like I didn’t belong. We were always encouraging each other.

And the GYO mission is powerful. Getting more African Americans and Latinos into teacher prep programs and then growing the pool of teachers who look like students.

I did my student teaching at an elementary school in West Garfield Park. The school was predominantly low income and African American. At times, in the beginning, it was tough. I had three periods of 7th and 8th graders and they gave me a lot of pushback. But once they began to accept me as their teacher, I was able to envision myself working there permanently. Students and other teachers say to me, “You’re one of us now.”

Things that you hear about students in schools like this on the West Side are simply not true. The news is always feeding negative images. My students can be rowdy sometimes, but they are smart and intellectual and I let them know how great they are.  

All of this budget cutting is ending careers before they even get started. GYO is a great program for African American and Latino teachers and for African American and Latino students. People need to know how much GYO makes a difference. You can’t just pop a teacher in the microwave and then they’re done. We go through many assessments; and there’s always something new. The people in GYO are patient and encouraging and no matter how many obstacles we have to go thru, they are there to help.

Growing up, I went through a lot of things that most kids today go through. High school dropout. Teen parent. Homeless. Yet now, I’m a college graduate. No matter what you go through and the bad choices you make, in the end what you do about it is up to you. Don’t let your environment dictate what you can and can’t do.