Dr. Khalid N. Mumin, Pennsylvania Education Secretary and a former superintendent of the Lower Merion School District, knows firsthand the powerful impact teachers can have on a child’s life, writes Vicki Phillips for Forbes.

His tenth-grade English teacher Mr. Smith was the one to set him on his trajectory to become an English teacher himself, and ultimately a leader in education in the state.

“Mr. Smith convinced me I was smart. He convinced me that William Shakespeare was the best rapper of all time. Mr. Smith convinced me to be a teacher.”

He said Mr. Smith showed him how English and literature could expand the worlds of students.

“When I got into the classroom, I knew I wanted to make learning fun,” he said. “With learners, you can never ever count them out. Never. [Teaching] is that message in the bottle that you throw out to sea. You don’t know who’s on the other end of it and how it may impact them.”

Throughout his career, he said that his focus has always been on working in service of the students. That schools need to always give communities their best.

Now as Pennsylvania Education Secretary, he continues to focus on the quality of teaching and learning for all students.

Read more about the initiatives Dr. Mumin and the Department are currently focused on in Forbes.

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