Teacher Leadership

WUSTL MS in Biology alumna Karen Thompson makes a difference in Jennings

Jennings schools show improvement even as neighboring districts struggle

(September 22, 2013 by Elisa Crouch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, photo by Erik M. Lunsford)
JENNINGS • Just two years ago, Sean Charleston didn’t understand the point of school. He was sometimes suspended. He earned D’s. He blew off homework.

But then he ended up in Karen Thompson’s biomedical science class that the 20-year veteran teacher had begun teaching at Jennings Senior High School. Sean loved the class and saw that Thompson cared about his future. Now, he is determined not just to graduate high school, but college.

“That’s the only way I’ll be successful,” said Sean, now a sophomore.

Sean’s transformation is happening on a larger scale throughout the Jennings School District.
Read the entire story on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website.