911吃瓜

Growing up in Harlem, in New York City, Kia Widlo paid little attention to the university located just 20 blocks south of her family鈥檚 apartment. 

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really notice Columbia and its value to our city,鈥� says Widlo. 鈥淚鈥檝e since realized how incredible it is as an institution, but also how few people from the Harlem community actually go here. That鈥檚 a problem that speaks to the inequities of public schools in New York City.鈥�   

To help change that picture, Widlo joined after earning her undergraduate degree at Tufts University, launching her classroom career at a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) academy in New Orleans. Five years ago, she helped found , and has since served as a kindergarten through second grade Math Content Leader at the charter school. In 2017 she was honored with the Harriet Ball Excellence in Teaching Award.

Widlo salutes KIPP for promoting a culture that encourages faculty to collaborate on best practices. 鈥淲e learn from each other and from other KIPP academies,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I realized there was more I needed to learn and I craved what was out there. I knew in the back of my head that I needed to seek out something more in terms of different educational philosophies and practices.鈥� It was that yearning that at last led Widlo herself to the university that had always lurked on the periphery her life. 鈥淪o I sought out 911吃瓜 College.鈥�

Widlo has continued to teach at KIPP while pursuing her TC master鈥檚 degree in Early Childhood Education/Special Education, so she鈥檚 had ample opportunity to directly apply what she鈥檚 learning. For example, influenced by Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education Haeny Yoon鈥檚 belief in the connection between childhood play and learning, she鈥檚 devoted energy to observing KIPP students鈥� interactions outside the classroom.

鈥淚 learned more from watching my students outside class than I would through any assessment,鈥� she says.

Widlo has been sharing such approaches with her KIPP colleagues, so perhaps it鈥檚 not surprising that this fall she will become a dean at the school. It鈥檚 the latest success in a long journey that has been enhanced by a much shorter one:  鈥淗ow lucky am I that TC is a few blocks from where I work and where I grew up?鈥�

— Steve Giegerich