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Dear Pulitzer Center Reader: 

My name is Catherine Irving, and I am a social science teacher at Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago. I have been working with the Pulitzer Center for over a decade, and their support has been invaluable to my practice and to my students’ learning experiences. 

We are living in an age when young people have access to so much information, but it is packaged and delivered to match their previous clicks. This creates tunnel vision and does not allow kids to know the true world around them. Connecting with underreported stories allows students to widen their vision. Every time I work with a Pulitzer Center lesson plan or journalist, many of my students become motivated to learn more. They become more interested in current topics and ultimately want to be more civically involved. Engaging with just one story can break students’ tunnel vision, allowing them to realize that there are many more perspectives in our society. It often leads students to want to know more about what they have not heard about. 

The Pulitzer Center has additionally supported my learning as I recently participated in the Spring 2021 Teacher Fellowship. I applied because I needed that push. I had lessons that I knew were on the cusp of touching students’ intrinsic sense of justice and equal rights, but I needed that little boost to turn some of my ideas into something special. This fellowship did that through the valuable feedback from the people at the Pulitzer Center, the guest journalists, and my colleagues.

It is difficult to pinpoint the most meaningful part about working with the Pulitzer Center. Is it the access to endless lesson plans that teachers can tweak to fit their own goals and students? Is it the availability of the Center’s staff to bounce ideas off and get new perspectives and resources on what I am teaching? Is it the connection to journalists who are willing to come to teachers’ classes, explain their work, and answer student questions? Is it connecting students to the world around them and opening their hearts and minds to people’s life experiences that may be similar or very different from their own?

All of these questions can be answered equally with a strong yes. I encourage you to support the Pulitzer Center’s work as its people and programs have a powerful impact on teachers and students at a time when all of our vision needs to be broadened.

 
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The Pulitzer Center promotes awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms and a unique program of education and public outreach.
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