- Stories / Meet Our Scholars / Meet our Future Educators
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Haley Neil
Haley’s passion is a blend of literacy education and creative writing, inspired by her time as a preschool teacher with Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that enlists promising young leaders to serve as teachers in public schools within low-income communities. With her preschool classroom, she realized that storytelling provided more for her students than just entertainment—they had a powerful impact on their socioemotional and cognitive development. Haley received a Master’s degree in education and is now pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at the New School. As both a writer and teacher, Haley hopes to create diverse stories that foster growth within her own students and in classrooms across the country.
Haley’s original submission video
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Matthew Coonan
Matthew is spoken word poet whose dream to become an English teacher is inspired by the educators and mentors that have made a difference in his life. Hoping to nurture a similar passion for creativity within the younger generation, Matthew received a degree in childhood education from SUNY Oneota. Today, he is a teaching assistant in an inclusion classroom, working with 2nd and 3rd grade students with special needs while also pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing at Stony Brook University. As a teacher, he hopes to open new doors in literacy and foster self-expression in his students by incorporating creative writing into his classroom’s curriculum.
Matthew’s original submission video
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