As a student at American University, Melissa Mortimer began tutoring in Southeast D.C. with an afterschool and summer literacy program. She quickly became convinced that she wanted to teach high school English, and committed to following her students in the tutoring program to high school. Ms. Mortimer has spent the past eight years teaching at Ballou, working with students from 10th to 12th grades, including several whom she previously tutored in elementary school.

Ms. Mortimer relies heavily on building personal connections with her students in order to push them to achieve at high levels. “When they know that you care about them as individuals, they become more invested and their confidence goes up,” she explains. “Showing compassion and interest in my students’ lives helps them see that my class is about a lot more than just a grade—it’s about their lives and their futures.” Ms. Mortimer’s approach has yielded big improvements in student performance. In her first two years teaching 10th grade English, Ballou students saw double-digit gains in DC CAS reading scores. She has also become a leader in her school community, serving as department chairperson for four years and mentoring new teachers. Ms. Mortimer remains awed by her students’ resilience in the face of significant obstacles, and uses Ballou’s motto to describe her students: “Bold, courageous, and outstanding.”