LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Brenda Young was nominated by her colleague, Maura McLaughlin.

“You will not fail on my time,” is Ms. Young’s mantra to her at-risk teens in a high-poverty area continuation high school, and she means it! She inspires and motivates her students as she pushes them to excel and realize their potential.

“My students are here because they didn’t succeed in a traditional school setting due to family dysfunction, substance abuse, gang influence, poor choices, or simply falling through the cracks," said Young. "My job is to fill those cracks with knowledge, experience, and support.”

The students call her “Ms. Y," not only because of her last name, but because Ms. Y always goes for the “WHY?” She pushes them to question everything - their choices, their decisions, the information they hear. She is determined that students claim and define their own voices to succeed in the real world.

Many of her students have been marginalized and have not developed their own voice, or maybe more accurately, their confidence in it. Ms. Y works on this the moment a new student enrolls in the school. The school’s dynamic changes daily because students are enrolled on a rolling basis. They are referred to her school if they're at risk of dropping out, behind in credits, returning from lock-up, pregnant, or have a prolonged school absence. When a new student arrives, current students have to individually stand up, welcome the new student and tell a little bit about themselves. Once they do this a few times, they now remind Ms. Y to remember to do it. They see the value of standing up for themselves and gain confidence with each new introduction.

A former student who served in the military came back to school to visit Ms. Y. She immediately asked him to address the class and talk about his life since graduation, and pass along his experiences and any advice he might have for the class.

“I hated standing up in front of the class, but as I went into the military, I saw that my confidence and ability to stand up for myself helped me get promotions and gain respect," said the student. "So, I stopped hating Ms. Y for making me get up in front of class, and started thanking her for it!”

Ms. Y doesn’t care about the immediate rewards; she makes it clear that she is in education for the long haul and strives to prepare students for the future.

Ms. Y takes a personal interest in each student and works hard to make them feel valued. One year, she had a group of “taggers,” so she took their interest and partnered with a company called “Off the Wall Graffiti” to motivate taggers to use their art in a productive and commercial way. This not only encouraged their art, but eliminated outlets that got students into trouble. She hand-picks and even orders books for her students to read based on their interests. Many students come to her having never read a book before, and they tell her they hate reading. Ms. Y’s reply?

“You just haven’t found a book you are interested in yet!”

Now, students love to shout out recommendations to new students. Ms. Y had a student who almost dropped out many times and had never read a book. After reading the book they chose together, he came back and said, “Ms. Y, could I get another one?” These are the rewards that warm her heart and make her grateful that she is an educator.

Through Spoken Word, Ms. Y guides the students to find their voice about themselves and social issues. Her small school has competed in city-wide poetry slams. Ms. Y led her 6-person team to the finals with three other schools out of 60 schools city-wide, including large, private, charter, and public schools. Her spoken word students have been invited to perform at private fundraisers, swearing in ceremonies for assembly members, and visiting state senators. With a taste of success, students realize they have a voice, and that they are valued. The biggest compliment Ms. Y receives is when a student comes back and proclaims, “Ms. Y, I went to a job interview and they thought I was so professional, and so well-spoken. And I got the job!”

Many of her students are street-wise, but not worldly, so Ms. Y writes grants and seeks out opportunities to broaden their horizons. Her school has been one of six schools state wide to attend a leadership academy for six years at UC Berkeley to educate students on teen worker safety and rights. Girls Build LA, a program to empower young women to lead and learn, has been another pet project of hers for the past three years. She wrote the grant, got accepted and works with the girls after school to design, develop and deliver projects for the community such as compiling volunteer resources, encouraging healthy eating or preparing students for the world of work. Currently, her goal is to have 100% of the student body design and compile a professional resume by holiday hiring season.

Ms. Young serves as the sole English Language Arts teacher for grades 9-12, has been the testing coordinator for 12 years, and is the English Language Learner Designee. She comes to school each day to educate, motivate and even entertain. She will yodel to reward students or give them a laugh, or rap to reach the students. Ms. Y has a rap throw-down with students frequently in the classroom and in the school assembly to keep things fresh. She took the message of safe sex and performed a rap to get the message across.

Ms. Y has been recognized by the academic community by awards such as: Los Angeles Unified School District 2017 Teacher of the Year; California League of High Schools Outstanding Educator; and California Continuation Education Association District Teacher of the Year. She earned National Board Certification in Career/Technology and served as a California Teach-Plus+ Fellow, whose goal is to inform education policy. In addition to school and community partnerships, Ms. Y. expands her own education to bring new experiences to the classroom. She studied water contamination and Mexican agriculture outside of Mexico City with EarthWatch in 2017. This past summer, she received fellowships to study Middle Eastern geo-politics, religion and culture at Duke University, and to study WWII through a fellowship through Gilder Lehrman at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.

“I need to recharge and seek out new information to stay relevant in the classroom and encourage my students to explore. When they hear of my adventures, they are more inclined to seek or create their own," said Ms. Y.

One of the best experiences she had was one day after she had told a new student about her classroom policy and personal expectations of him. She could see that he was not buying it, which is often the case with a new student who has led a tough life. As she walked away to give him some space, he dismissed her with a shrug. A current student leaned over to him and said, “Hey, don’t do that, she’s different, she really cares. She’s the real deal.” And that is why these students won’t fail on her time.