Kathy Sosa and Eh K Pru Shee Wah)

Whenever I go to see Kathy Sosa in her basement classroom (30 students) at the Hackett Middle School in Albany, I am reminded that you don’t need to be a soldier in combat to be a hero.

Kathy is a teacher who cares deeply about her students and who fights for them every day. I have yet to count all the jobs she takes, day and night, every day, to pay for two daughters in college and the regular bills.

She works all the time, she always has time for her pupils.

I was ashamed for my country when she told me how much she earns, and how hard she has to work for it. We have lost perspective and a sense of morality. Our priorities are upside down. Kathy could be angry, even bitter, but she helps her students every single day and worries about them.

She’s worth ten times what a Minor League baseball player makes, and  earns a tenth of what they are paid.

She was the teacher who recommended Eh K Pru to me, and  who helped her apply. Whenever I see them together, I wish that every child in America could have or know a teacher like Kathy, who will fight like a tiger to teach them,  help them, and push them forward.

Eh K Pru told me the only reason she even briefly considered staying at the Hackett School was that “Mrs. Sosa” wasn’t teaching there.

Kathy is one of the most admirable people I know, a hero to me. She is bounded and grounded, she pulls people up, never tears them down. That is pretty heroic to me. I am so happy to have found such a partner in this work.