Voices Behind the Mission
Since opening our doors nearly three decades ago, TYWLS has grown from a single school into a network built on the belief that girls and gender-expansive youth deserve a public, tuition-free education designed with them in mind. That growth has been carried forward, in large part, by educators who arrived as teachers and student teachers and stayed on to lead the very schools and programs where they got their start. In this issue, three of them share their stories.
Sarah, Kristen, and Drew of Student Leadership Network’s Girls’+ Education team
Sarah Boldin, Managing Director of Girls’+ Education
How did your journey with Student Leadership Network begin?
I interviewed and was hired at TYWLS East Harlem in 2004, while I was finishing my master’s at NYU. A classmate was student teaching there and told me about this public school for girls that felt progressive but was still part of the public school system. I couldn’t believe it existed, I did my demo lesson in an 11th grade English classroom, and after a lot of anxious follow up calls, I got the job. I was over the moon.
Sarah Boldin, Managing Director of Girls’+ Education
What’s been a highlight of working at Student Leadership Network for over 20 years?
Sarah with TYWLS graduates
I’ve been here for almost 22 years now with TYWLS and Girls+ Education. Honestly, it’s the people. Many of us have stayed for decades because we believe in the work, and those relationships have lasted. Even people who’ve left the organization are still in my life, doing work adjacent to what we do here. It’s been, for lack of a better term, my life’s work.
If you could describe TYWLS in three words, what would they be?
Unique. Elevated. Connected. People are often surprised to learn our schools are regular NYC public schools, because of how much extra support and opportunity exists there. Much of that comes from our ongoing partnerships, the programs, the events, the mentorship, that helps students see themselves succeeding well beyond high school.
What do you want people to know about the work Student Leadership Network makes possible?
A lot of what happens at TYWLS is made possible with the support of Student Leadership Network, from the college readiness guidance our counselors provide, to the leadership programs that help students build confidence beyond the classroom. This is largely thanks to the extra layer our small but mighty team provides, whether that’s during the school day, after school, or over the summer.
Sarah with TYWLS Graduate, Christina Rodriguez
Drew Higginbotham, Managing Director of Professional Learning & School Improvement
How did your journey with Student Leadership Network begin?
I started at TYWLS East Harlem in 1998 as a student teacher while I was getting my graduate degree at Bank Street College. TYWLS was only in its third year at the time, and I hadn’t even requested the placement, I was just placed there. It changed my life. I was offered the chance to take over a seventh grade humanities class. I ended up teaching for seven years, then became Assistant Principal for eight years, and later Principal for three years before transitioning to Student Leadership Network.
Drew Higginbotham, Managing Director of Professional Learning & School Improvement
What’s been a highlight of working at Student Leadership Network for over 20 years?
I always loved TYWLS East Harlem’s graduations. I taught many of the students in sixth or seventh grade, and I was often the one who read their names when they got their diplomas. Seeing young people I’d known since they were 11 or 12 years old walk across that stage at 17 or 18 is one of my fondest memories. I also love hearing what our alumni go on to do, whether it’s six months after graduation or ten years later when they’ve become a teacher, a doctor, whatever it may be. Those moments stick with me.
If you could describe TYWLS in three words, what would they be?
Sisterhood, because it’s always about girls supporting girls, students supporting students, feeling part of a family. Joy, TYWLS is at its best when students are genuinely enjoying their learning, not just building a resume. And learning, not just student learning, but the sharing of successful practices, collaborative problem-solving, and mutual support that faculty and administrators experience as part of a network committed to creating transformative experiences and bold futures for our students.
What do you want people to know about the work Student Leadership Network makes possible?
TYWLS and Student Leadership Network have let me build a career where I have been able to fuse my values with my expertise and skills, alongside some of the most amazing people, students, teachers, and colleagues, who are in this work for the same reasons I am. Not everyone gets to say that about their job.
Kristen Gordon, Senior Manager, Girls’+ Education
How did your journey with Student Leadership Network begin?
I was a student at TYWLS East Harlem. My small private school in the Bronx had connections to the founders, and after touring both TYWLS and another school, TYWLS won me over. Drew Higginbotham was actually part of my tour that day – a small world that I’d end up working alongside him so many years later. I attended TYWLS East Harlem from seventh through twelfth grade, and to this day, I’m still close friends with several of the girls who came with me from that same small school.
Kristen Gordon, Senior Manager, Girls’+ Education
What’s been a highlight of working at Student Leadership Network?
Being here is honestly like healing my own inner child. My first year in the office, I walked in and saw a photo of myself as a junior introducing Malala Yousafzai on stage at the (Em)Power Breakfast. I still get emotional seeing it. Now I get to help create that same experience for students today. This organization poured so much into me growing up, from college counseling to pre-college programs, and being able to come back and do that work for the next generation feels incredibly full circle.
If you could describe TYWLS in three words, what would they be?
College-bound, Amazing Faculty, and Advisory. College-bound, because going to college was never really a question at TYWLS, it was simply a matter of which one. Amazing faculty, because our teachers genuinely cared about us as people, not just students, several of them are the reason I became a teacher myself. And advisory, it gave us dedicated time, every single day, to check in as a community, something I didn’t realize wasn’t the norm everywhere until I got older.
What do you want people to know about the work Student Leadership Network makes possible?
It’s about access and choice. If you don’t know what’s possible, that door never opens for you. Whether it’s a free SAT prep course, a college counselor who knows you personally, or a pre-college program that helps you figure out what kind of school fits you, that access changes everything. I’ve seen it in my own life and in my friends’ lives, the difference between having that support and not having it is huge. Planting that seed early, in middle school, is the lasting impact Student Leadership Network has made, and it’s work we’ve done incredibly well for 30 years.
