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Ron Clark Highlight
If you pour enough love, energy, and excitement into the life of a child, you can change that child forever.
About Ron
- I grew up in North Carolina and was the first person on both sides of my family to attend college.
- I was working at a fast food drive-through when my mom urged me to go inquire about a teaching opening at a local school—I had no intentions of taking the job, but wanted to appease my mom.
- After meeting with the principal and students, I decided to take the job.
- I quickly realized that traditional lesson plans weren’t resonating with my students, so I started incorporating fun activities, like rapping lessons, dress-up days, and field trips.
- After five years of teaching in North Carolina—during which, I was honored by President Clinton—I decided to move to New York and teach at a struggling school in Harlem.
- In 2000, I was named Teacher of the Year by Disney.
- I wrote a bestselling book, “The Essential 55,” and used the money to buy an old, vacant factory in Atlanta, Georgia—it was my goal to turn that space into a new school.
- In 2007, I co-founded The Ron Clark Academy, a nonprofit private school, where we utilize innovative teaching methods to help students succeed—our methods produce a 100% high school graduation rate!
