Kwame Green

When a teacher is as dynamic and inspiring and beloved by his students as Kwame Green, you expect that it’s always been in his blood.

Kwame’s grandmother was once a teacher. His mother was a teacher at MPS for over 20 years. So of course teaching was always Kwame’s first love, right?

Well, not exactly.

Kwame wanted to go to law school. He even got his Master’s degree and practiced law for several years.

A few years later he heard about a new school that was opening soon. That school was Dr.Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy formerly known as Milwaukee Collegiate Academy, where today Kwame teaches junior and senior seminar, writing-based classes that prepare his students for the challenges of going to college.

Kwame has always been inspired and encouraged by the progressive leaders at the school who preached teamwork and going all out for every student.

As he explains, “Because we were such a small school with a small staff, you wear 100 different hats. But through that I was able to gain these rich experiences.”

Kwame’s popularity with his students stems in part from the way he deeply understands the challenges teenagers go through. From broken families to extreme poverty, he’s seen it all. And he knows every student has his or her own story. Yet his goal is to balance compassion with teaching them to overcome the obstacles.

He is adamant about the “path” that students need to learn.

It’s the path out of their current world and into one that they want someday. So Kwame is relentless in getting them to accept the hard work it will take to achieve something for themselves.

A big part of his job, Kwame says, is “to help you develop those skills as a critical thinker and a problem-solver and a decision-maker.”

And the most rewarding part of being a teacher? “It’s seeing their growth,” he says. “Seeing them become who they want to be, seeing them become better than they were. That brings me true joy to see them be successful at something. That makes me smile.”