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Jim O'Connor

What would you like to accomplish within the next 5 years?

I plan to increase the number of students that are on the path to college by either growing our school to add more grades or adding schools. I would like to be impacting more young people in the next 5 years through education.

What do you think are the biggest issues facing your generation?

Unequal funding for public education. The overall low-quality of education offered to low-income students in rural and urban settings.

What do you hope to learn from more established leaders?

How to grow an organization while maintaining quality. How to build even stronger community partnerships.

What do you think established leaders can learn from your work?

I think that I have much to learn from others.

What is the most gratifying aspect of your work?

Seeing students with habits that are hurting them start to change to display more productive and respectful habits. When students start to use study skills and social skills that we teach them. Knowing that our students will come back to their community willing and able to change it for the better as college graduates. Our students have earned over $1 million in scholarships to high schools. All of our 8th graders have earned a place at a college prep high school.

What is the biggest challenge in your work?

Finding great teachers and retaining them.

What tools or resources do you need to help you continue your work?

1) Finding teachers who are:
a. Passionate about our school’s mission, to enable educationally
underserved students to get on the path to college.
b. Passionate about their subject area
c. Extremely driven and hard working
2) Funding for high school scholarships for our students

What advice would you give to people under the age of 35 who are interested in social justice and social change?

Roll up your sleeves and dig in. At our school, it is fun to work with people who are as driven as me and as passionate about our mission as me. I recommend finding an organization like ours or building one yourself.

Define leadership.

The ability to move a group of people towards a common cause and accomplish great things.

Please discuss the importance of coalition/partnership building across racial, ethnic and generational divides in your work.

The most important partnership at our school is between our school and our parents/grandparents. Our parents sign a document called the Commitment To Excellence. In it, they commit to checking their child’s homework, making sure that they have supplies, and work with our school to help improve their child’s school work.

We work with several social services agencies in our community to give our students the social and emotional support that they need. Our partnerships have enabled us to staff our Saturday program, get motivational speakers for our students, and provide us with great programming on field lessons.

We have board members and supporters that support our school from a variety of races, professions, locales, and backgrounds.