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Meet Leah Juelke, the teacher who is empowering the lives of refugee and immigrant students in Fargo, North Dakota at Fargo South High.
She is a believer in global education, social justice, cultural awareness and has made noteworthy changes in the education landscape teaching English learner students. She has travelled to 27 countries, was awarded the 2019 NEA Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence, 2019 Sanford/ National University Teacher of the Year and the YWCA 2020 Woman of the Year Winner in Education amongst many other accolades to her name. Being one of the Top 10 Varkey Global Teacher Prize finalists, Leah has received a portion of the prize money that went to Ranjitsinh Disale and she plans to further her cause with the generous donation.
DRIVING FORCE
Leah’s first experience with refugees was during middle school when her peer Sara, one of the two black students in her school, became her friend. Sara and her family were refugees from Sudan and it wasn’t until high school that Leah realized Sara’s only meal during the day was the free meal at school. Sara was the face of Leah’s future endeavors, she volunteered with schools, took up medic training in the National Guard, and these experiences led her to an epiphanic moment. Leah wanted to dedicate her life to equitable learning opportunities, understanding students on a deeper level and creating change from ground up.
IMPACT
The ‘Journey to America’ project led by Leah was instrumental in refugee students finding a voice. The project included students expressing their experience coming to the United States in the form of a narrative short stories, poems and artwork. The intention was to help them work with their past trauma and pave the way for a strong foundation for their future. What Leah didn’t know was that these stories would create a change in the community. Students publish stories in class anthologies and send out over 500 copies of the books each year to educators, legislators, business people, celebrities and anyone who requests one. Students also do public presentations of their stories and poems, while displaying their artwork, at the local universities each year. In addition, students travel around the state and read their stories at schools, elderly care facilities and book stores.
Three of Leah’s students took their stories and testified at the state capitol against the proposal to limit refugee settlement in North Dakota, and the legislature didn’t go forward with the measure. Real societal change was seen, and continues to be seen with the groundwork and depth at which Leah chooses to operate.
CHALLENGE
Mama J, as her students lovingly call Leah, works with students well below the poverty line. Their parents also face language barriers and hence, don’t get involved in the education of their children. Some of the families have met with abuse and violence during transitional periods that have led to PTSD. Since most students are English learners from 21 different countries, Leah needs to tailor the education and has to continuously innovate to ensure each of her students don’t feel left behind.
STEP FORWARD
Leah has big plans in mind to use the prize money towards empowering local refugee and immigrant students, awarding scholarships to EL students in need and to those who wish to become teachers and change lives. Her efforts will continue to introduce a rich cultural perspective to the North Dakota schools and the nation by recognizing and uplifting the communities that require it.
She has partnered with Fargo Public Schools Development Foundation, the body that will help her in disbursing the scholarships and plans to roll out the first few scholarships in May 2022. Her tentative plan to use the prize money for 2022 is as follows:
JUELKE-DISALE FUTURE EDUCATOR SCHOLARSHIP
The $1,000 scholarship will be awarded each year to a Fargo/West Fargo area high school student whose native language is not English and is majoring in Education.
This scholarship will be awarded to a qualified student using the below listed criteria. Criteria:
Be a native speaker of a language other than English GPA of 2.0 or higher .
Senior enrolling in a two or four-year post-secondary institution, with emphasis in education.
Majoring in Education (K-12 Teacher, Higher Education, Coach, Counselor, Administration).
Special consideration will be given to students who were or are currently enrolled as EL students.
Demonstrate a financial need.
Knowledge is powerful when it is accessible. We often forget the latter & RDF wishes to be a changemaker in the education space. With the use of technology & tools, we want to create a student community that has unlimited seats.
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