Trinity Alumni Are Shaping the Future of Education

A Duke education begins in a classroom, but its influence rarely ends there. For generations of students, the Duke Education Program has been a place to explore what it means to teach, lead and serve. Through teacher preparation, community-engaged learning, mentorship and opportunities to work directly with students and schools, the program helps aspiring educators connect theory with practice — and understand education as both a profession and a public responsibility. 

Its impact can be seen in classrooms, school districts, communities and even bedtime routines. We caught up with three alumni from the Program in Education, who took the lessons they learned at Duke and carried them down three different paths. Jessica On is building a classroom where fifth graders can ask difficult questions and feel fully supported. Akil Ross is leading a school district with the conviction that every student can grow. Maya Myers is creating picture books that help children recognize their feelings, imagine new possibilities and see themselves in the world around them. 

Their paths are distinct, but their work is connected by a common belief in education’s ability to shape lives in lasting ways. Together, their stories reflect a shared idea: education is one of the most enduring ways to create “permanent good.” 

It Takes a Village

Jessica On Becomes Durham Public Schools’ Beginning Teacher of the Year 

When Jessica On was named Durham Public Schools’ Beginning Teacher of the Year, her first thought went to all the people who helped her reach that moment. 

“It takes a village to support a beginning teacher,” she said. 

Growing up as a child of immigrant parents, On learned early that school could be a place of opportunity. While her parents worked long hours and navigated the American education system alongside their children, a support network of teachers, counselors and school mentors encouraged On to dream beyond what she could immediately see.  

That support helped lead her to Duke, where she majored in Public Policy, but Education was always front and center in her mind. She became fascinated by questions of equity, opportunity and the ways public systems shape children’s lives. Nearly every one of her papers, research projects or policy discussions found a way back to the topic of schools. 

“I credit my Duke education with impacting the way I see what a school is — and can be,” she said. “In my courses, we talked a lot about systems, opportunity and what equality versus equity looks like.” 

The turning point came as On planned her senior-year schedule. She realized she had room to explore teacher licensure and began asking what it would mean to understand education not only through policy, but through daily experience. 

“I thought, ‘I love working with young people, I love learning about education — what better way to learn about education than to be in it?’” 

Through Duke’s Program in Education, she enrolled in the Elementary Teacher Preparation Program. Through Student U — a Durham nonprofit organization that partners with Duke to support first-generation public-school students — she discovered a passion for upper elementary students. A Bass Connections project, University-Assisted Community Schools, deepened her understanding of how schools can work with families and neighborhoods to address challenges that extend far beyond academics. 

Those experiences shaped the philosophy On now brings to her fifth-grade classroom at Lyons Farm Elementary. Whether guiding students through a science lesson or encouraging them to examine biases in history, On works to create a classroom where every child feels empowered to participate. She calls fifth grade the “sweet spot” because students are independent enough to think deeply, while still eager to learn and willing to approach the world with curiosity. 

Her early years in the classroom have also reminded her that students never leave the outside world at the door. “There are so many things going on in a student’s life that have nothing to do with school,” On said. This year, she watched students wrestle with fears surrounding immigration and uncertainty in their families’ lives.  

“The school experience doesn’t depend just on how a student shows up on a given day,” she said. “It depends on what’s happening in their world and how we’re supporting not just the student, but their family, their neighborhood and the broader community.” 

Through the challenges, On has continued to draw on the network she built at Duke, including her participation in the Duke TeachHouse. The program offers affordable housing, peer mentorship and professional leadership development opportunities to teachers like On, who started their careers in local K-12 schools.  

"I love the community of practice TeachHouse provides," On said. "A network of young, beginning educators to workshop ideas with and who truly understand what it’s like to be an early-career teacher today."

That sense of community has shaped On’s journey — and, she believes, is reflected in her Beginning Teacher of the Year award. 

 “I wouldn’t be here had it not been for all the people and programs that supported me as a teacher, a learner and a student,” she said.   

From Seed to Blossom

Akil Ross’ Journey to Superintendent of the Year 

When Akil Ross talks about education, he begins with a seed. 

As South Carolina’s 2027 Superintendent of the Year, the Lexington-Richland School District Five leader and former National Principal of the Year traces his career back to one defining moment: failing the third grade. 

“I got straight Fs in the third grade,” Ross said matter-of-factly. “The headline years later was, ‘He flunked the third grade, now he’s the National Principal of the Year.’” 

Growing up in Washington, D.C., Ross describes his childhood as one that fit nearly every demographic associated with poor educational outcomes: An African American boy living in urban poverty with a single mother and receiving special education services. By every statistical measure, he says, his story was expected to end differently. 

Instead, it changed because of one teacher who refused to let him give up. 

Ross’s second third-grade teacher, Ms. Shivers, believed mastery mattered more than speed. While other classrooms advanced chapter by chapter regardless of who understood the material, her students stayed with a lesson until they learned it. More importantly, she believed in Ross before he believed in himself. 

“She taught me, ‘Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better, and your better is best,’” Ross recalled. “From there, every experience I had with failure wasn’t about intelligence, it was about effort.” 

That lesson became the foundation for everything that followed. 

After graduating from high school with honors and earning a football scholarship to Duke, Ross majored in Political Science, envisioning a career in law with the goal of becoming a judge. His path shifted through Duke’s Secondary Teacher Preparation Program, where he encountered the mentors who nurtured a growing passion for education. 

“The seeds were planted,” Ross said. “What Duke did was nourish that growth.” 

That nourishment extended beyond the classroom. Faculty members encouraged Ross to apply for a Rockefeller Brothers Fund fellowship designed to bring outstanding Black scholars into the education profession. The fellowship enabled him to pursue a fully funded graduate degree while beginning his teaching career, setting him on a path he had not originally imagined. 

As a young teacher and football coach, Ross looked beyond academics to help students develop confidence and character. He created a "Gentlemen's Showcase" for young men at his high school, combining mentoring, professional development, etiquette, goal setting and community support. The program's impact was so profound that it led to an unexpected opportunity: becoming an assistant principal at just 26 years old.

Today, Ross leads more than 2,700 employees, and his leadership philosophy remains rooted in the same life-changing lesson taught decades ago by one determined third-grade teacher: Plant a seed and help it bloom.

That vision guides his district under the motto, “We love and grow our students.” It also reflects the lasting influence of the educators who invested in him — starting with Ms. Shivers, all the way to Duke, and beyond. 

Finding Her Story

How Maya Myers Discovered Her Voice as a Children’s Book Author 

Maya Myers didn’t set out to become a children’s book author. She was simply trying to hold on to a moment.

As a mother watching her daughter grow, Myers — a former kindergarten teacher — found herself drawn to the small details that make childhood meaningful: imagination, emotion, discovery and connection. She wanted a way to capture not only what childhood looks like, but what it feels like.

“I wanted to capture a piece of my youngest daughter’s childhood in some way beyond a camera, and it felt natural to do it in a picture book,” she said.

That instinct to use stories to connect, understand and remember has become the foundation of Myers’ work. But finding her voice as an author took time, and her path was shaped in important ways by her student experience at Duke.

As an English major, Myers’s studies expanded her understanding of storytelling and encouraged her to see literature as more than something to analyze — stories also served as tools for connection, learning and growth.

Her participation in Duke’s Education Program brought that perspective into sharper focus. Through the program, Myers saw firsthand how books could engage young learners, and that experience laid important groundwork for the work she would later pursue.

“The Duke Education Program taught me to plan lessons around literature, and that kept kids’ books top of mind for me,” she said.

Myers’ love of children’s books began long before she became a published author. In fact, her high school valedictory speech was centered on Winnie-the-Pooh. But it wasn’t until years later — as an adult teaching in the classroom and raising her own children — that she began to see herself as a children’s writer. In fact, she recalls struggling as an undergraduate in a creative writing class to connect with the works she produced. Looking back, she understands that frustration.

“As an undergrad, I just hadn’t yet figured out that I was meant to write for kids, not adults,” she said.

Today, Myers writes picture books that explore imagination, identity, emotions and relationships. Her stories center on characters navigating the challenges of growing up with the goal of helping young readers feel understood and empowered.

“Kids have big feelings, and it can be hard to figure out what to do with them,” she said. “I hope my books help kids feel seen.”

This summer, Myers took that hope onto the road on a book tour promoting her recent book, “Good Morning, Morning.” The tour gave her opportunities to meet young readers, share her work and see how children respond to stories in real time.

The experience reinforced something Myers had long believed: Picture books can speak to readers of all ages. 

As her writing has evolved, Myers has embraced the particular demands of the picture-book form. With only a few hundred words to tell a complete story, she has learned the importance of simplicity and collaboration, leaving room for illustrators to contribute their own storytelling.

She remains proud of her connection to Duke and to the broader community of alumni shaping young lives through education and creative work. She sees education as something that happens everywhere — not only in classrooms, but through experiences, conversations and books.

“Education happens all around us, every day, so long as we are paying attention,” she said. “To me, education is all about broadening our view of the world. The more kids read, the more ideas they’re exposed to — and the bigger and richer their web of perspective becomes.”