- Stories / Meet Our Scholars / Meet our Future Educators


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

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
