Congratulations to Natasha Hurt-Hayes for being selected as one of the Ohio Education Champions honorees in a statewide campaign by the Ohio Education Association. She is a true #differencemaker.
Natasha is an education champion for many reasons, the first of which is her dedication to empowering students and advocacy. No matter what district or what role she has worked in, she has continuously advocated for shifts in policies and practices to ensure equitable outcomes for all students. She has not only done this as an educator, but she has also worked hard to do this in the schools her children have attended, as well to advocate for other students in those spaces, serving on many committees and groups aimed at improving the quality of education.
She has led many school improvement efforts that have created significant change and increased student achievement and success as a result. Evidence of her impact falls not only in the state scores in many of the places she has served but in the students she has instructed, who many of whom are now educators themselves, and credit her influence for their success today. One former student recently posted on Facebook and tagged Natasha saying that the biggest lesson she ever learned was to be the adult you needed growing up. She credited Natasha with creating a safe and inclusive space where she was challenged and exposed to learning that superseded her experiences in many other ELA classrooms before arriving in Natasha’s classroom. She spoke about being affirmed and feeling like she could learn and accomplish anything thanks to her experience in her classroom.
There are countless other students, parents and colleagues of hers over the years who have shared similar experiences after working alongside her.
Her dedication to making public education specifically the very best started from our experience in high school together. We both got to college and soon realized how underprepared we’d been and the vast lack of resources in comparison to our many counterparts. This moment sparked something in her that has been hard to squelch. She has advocated for systemic changes to not only remove barriers to equity but fought hard to create learning opportunities for other educators to elevate them so that they might provide the very best education possible. She has created career exploration programs for middle schoolers to expose them early to potential career options, pairing community leaders in various avenues to show students the vast array of opportunities at their disposal. She has led programs to develop opportunities for elementary students to be exposed to STEM learning and STEM fields in partnership with schools and Wright Patt Airforce Base Educational Outreach to provide students in urban districts with the same access as many other schools in more affluent areas of our home town.
Even now, as a School Improvement Coach, she has continued to work with educators at all levels, from paraprofessionals to superintendents, to make systemic changes to improve the quality of education for all students so they might have equitable access and equitable education.
As an educational consultant, she created many professional learning opportunities for staff in areas all over Ohio and in Indiana at both the k12 level and collegiate level to ensure that educators continue to grow in their understanding of best practices for content specific instruction, culturally responsive pedagogy, LGBTQ+ allyship and support and so much more. Even now, as she is in a dedicated district serving as a coach, she continues to volunteer her expertise in other local districts for free to help others grow and advocate for student voice and choice. I could go on for days talking about her as a champion and her impact.