School Talk

This CEO Is Under 30, Latina, and Making a Difference for Kids

Elsa Duré is under 30, Latina, and a CEO. And while she has every reason to be most proud of her accomplishments, her focus instead is on the success of the students at the schools that her organization, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies, helped to open.
The Providence Business News recently featured Duré in a piece entitled, Duré: Make World Better Through Education and it provides a glimpse into the world of education advocacy, education policy, and education collaboration.
It was Brown University that drew Duré to Rhode Island and she credits her time there with opening her eyes to what true opportunity looks like.

I was fortunate enough to have a mom that provided food,” she said. “I never went hungry. I had a roof over my head, sometimes it was multiple roofs. I went to 10 different schools. But I never realized what other opportunities looked like until I came to Brown.

Like so many who work in education – teachers, principals, policy advocates, non-profit leaders – Duré challenges herself to stay focused on the kids and not get caught up in the political noise that is always there in the background.

Because education and education policy [are] both deeply personal and also very political, I always have to remind myself every day why it is that we’re doing this work and who we’re doing this for,” she said. “That is always a challenge every day – not to get lost in the sort of politics of it all. When you’re in the middle of conversations around funding and local control, it sometimes can be easy to lose sight of ultimately wanting to make sure we’re creating and supporting great schools for all students.

To read the full piece in Providence Business News (and you should!), click here.

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