How Being a Teacher Prepared Me for the Pandemic How one woman's experience at Teach for America helped her cope, in a new job, during the COVID-19 crisis.

The ongoing pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges as we dig to new depths, within ourselves, to persevere. Personally, my experience as a chemistry and physics teacher with Teach for America (TFA) helped me take on these more recent obstacles at every turn.

My students faced formidable socio-economic challenges, which rank among the biggest barriers for academic achievement. It wouldn't be enough to drill them in the fundamentals of the periodic table and expect the rest to take care of itself.

I experienced first hand how pressure can indeed turn coal to diamonds: Course completion rates climbed to more than 80%, compared to a district average of 53%.