When Kevin Lowry began ninth grade at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, he had little interest in becoming a teacher. Then someone mentioned, with admiration, the easy rapport he built with younger students during school activities, which made him consider a career in education.
But it wasn’t until he joined the Genius, Joy and Love Academy at the University of Pittsburgh that Lowry realized what an important choice he was making — for his future and for all the future students who look like him.
According to the National Teacher and Principal Survey, Black men made up only 1.3% of the nation’s teachers during the 2020-21 school year, and the U.S. Department of Education reports just 7% of all public school educators are Black. Lowry, now 18, had three Black teachers in his 12 years at Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS)…
