Olani LeBeaud, Public Policy & Advocacy Fellow, BLU Educational Foundation

Becoming a teacher didn’t start out as one of Kameron Pyant’s dreams. However, he grew to understand the importance of providing communities with culturally responsive educators. He knows that there is an unfortunate abundance of students who are in the spaces of educational development and may never see someone who provides them cultural, ethnic, and racial representation.

BLU Educational Foundation’s focus on education and career pathways is in direct alignment with Kameron’s journey. As we continue to champion the establishment of clear viable career pathways within our education system, it is also important to uplift the employment of effective and diverse teachers. Kameron mentioned wanting to “provide students with prominent resources, direct them to conceptualize within their own lives as well as promising avenues that will encourage them to continue on the paths that they have chosen for themselves.” It is important to guide students into pathways that they are passionate about rather than those that many just choose as a default.

Often this responsibility falls in the hands of our teachers which is why men like Kameron are necessary for San Bernardino’s education system and the success of our students. “One of my goals is to affirm my students where they are not self-assured – I want them to know that they have a teacher who cares not only about the work they turn in and their professional/educational development, but their lives as a whole.”