Some people follow the expected path. I never have. From jumping straight from the classroom into a principal role during the recession to leaving a secure job to start my own school to now building a global edtech startup, my life has been a series of leaps. Not all were easy, but each was worth it. Along the way I discovered my purpose: creating spaces where others can be seen, valued, and inspired to dream bigger. As my mom likes to say, some of us are just born to leap.

We often miss the quiet ones, the students who don’t raise their hands, who challenge norms in subtle ways, who don’t fit the school version of “successful.” Yet, they’re often the ones with the greatest potential. This piece is a call to reimagine education so it works for the thinkers, the questioners, the ones sitting silently in the back with world-changing ideas.