Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erin Whalen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Erin, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
As a 20-year-old first tear teacher, I had immense energy and passion to find new and exciting ways to connect with my students. This interest is what led me to founding my own dance group at North Miami Middle School in addition to teaching all sections of English. Prior to holding auditions, a little boy came into my classroom. He was mute and folks within the building didn’t have the context to understand why. He was in my English class and would politely sit silently as other students participated in the discussion.
To my surprise, when I held auditions for the dance group, this same little boy was in the back of the audition line. His soul set aflame on the dancefloor, and he blew all the panelists away. That very moment was the seedling that grew into an incredible relationship between him and I. His name is Sicard, and unfortunately upon coming out to his family at a young age he was ostracized, abandoned, and abused. Prior to enrolling in North Miami Middle School, Sicard was sent back to Haiti, where his family is from, and left there with unfamiliar relatives with no warning or notice. It was there that he experienced severe levels of trauma that led to his mutism upon his arrival to my classroom.
Through dance, English class, and mentorship, Sicard and I grew and amazing relationship. He began to speak to me and his peers within the dance group. This quickly expanded to others within class and around the school. This is when Sicard told me about his summer in Haiti. Additionally, I noticed that Sicard was missing weeks of school at a time. Upon asking why, he shared that him and his family frequently experienced housing instability. When this occurred, it was his responsibility to take care of his younger siblings and school became a secondary concern.
It was then that I realized, as a teacher, I was told not to get involved. Do not provide gifts because it could be considered favoritism. Do not allow youth in your car because it’s a liability. Ensure that your students are penalized for missing significant amounts of “seat time” even if the reason is valid. This didn’t sit well with me. I knew that the universe had put this little boy in my life for a larger purpose than to simply be his English teacher.
It was then that I made the decision to do what teachers are never supposed to do. I asked his mother if I could house, feed, clothe and support Sicard when they experienced bouts of homelessness. To my surprise, teary eyed and grateful, she said yes. This spurred a new evolution within our relationship as Sicard quickly became like a son to me. Over the years my parents flew down quarterly to visit me. They quickly forged a beautiful relationship with Sicard. My dad taught him how to swim and my mom proudly served as his first therapist.
Within my 5th year in Miami, I was consistently provided opportunities to begin seeking a position in principalship. With that in mind, I knew I didn’t want to serve in this role in Miami. I had experienced multiple principals during my years and started to notice trends with how public-school principals were shuffled throughout the district. I knew wherever I served as a leader that I wanted to stay for the long run. So, I sadly left Miami before Sicard’s junior year. I promised him consistent visits and continued financial support during my time away. I also promised him that upon graduating from high school that I would officially adopt him as my son, to which his mom also graciously accepted.
On graduation day, Sicard’s family and mine sat shoulder-to-shoulder as we all cried with pride for our little boy. That day also marked signing day. After a celebratory dinner and a few fun filled days in Miami, Sicard, my parents and I flew back to LA to start our new life. I was the luckiest man in the world to officially be able to call my little boy “son”. Sicard is now a social media manager, movement director, style curator, professional dancer, and graduate of American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood. We live together in West Hollywood, and he inspires me each and every day.
Da Vinci RISE exists to provide youth like Sicard, with systematized care, healthy youth-adult relationships, material, and mental health resources and with an empowering education that values equity of outcome and experience. Our mission is to create a school designed to meet the needs of the most at-promise youth in the city, to ultimately create a holistic community that is empowering for all youth.
Da Vinci RISE exists because of Sicard.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
As an educator, we are deeply entrenched in the communities and in the lives of the families we are lucky enough to serve. I founded RISE so that we could use this positionality to combat some of the largest societal inequities of our time. As a young boy I struggled to read. It took me a very long time to read aloud without breaking into a cold sweat. When my parents would buy me books, I would use the cover art as inspiration for my sketches without ever grazing the words on the page. It wasn’t until reading “Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry” by Mildred D. Taylor that I read a full book from cover-to-cover. I grew infatuated and inspired by the stories of my ancestors. African, Mexican and Native American alike. I wanted to know how we got here, what we went through and how we could persist in honor of our history. Fast forward 10 years later and this passion got me through AP English, into a small liberal arts college on a full ride scholarship known for their writing program and with my bachelors in cultural anthropology. That same passion is what directed me to teaching. And that same essential question of, “who is being disenfranchised, ignored or targeted” drew me to seek the blind spots within our current school system. It was with that lens that I worked with an amazing team and founder, Kari Croft, to found RISE High School.
RISE provides educational equity to youth and families by ensuring our students have the resources they need to access a quality education. We use project-based learning and mastery-based grading to inspire a love for learning that is both rigorous and relevant. We now have three learning sites across the county all collocated with nonprofit organizations to provide wraparound services and extracurricular opportunities to our students. We have created a hybrid learning environment so that our students can access their schooling when and how they need it. We have a full mental health team on staff that cross-pollinate best practices and resources with our teachers to ensure continuity of support. Our vision is to un-silo systems of care so that our students can experience a synchronous and aligned school that accounts for their needs and wellbeing.
We have seen students who never believed they would graduate from high school go off into fantastic colleges or career paths. As a research and design institution we are consistently finding new and exciting ways to better meet the needs of our student body. We have been recognized as a “School to Learn From” by Teach for America and were recipients of the XQ Super Schools Award for rethinking high school. Most importantly, we proudly serve as a model for how you can build from the margins to create equitable institutions for all. These new systems must be built with and for the folks they serve. Our dream and goal is that a RISE alumni will run this school one day.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
As two incredibly young, bright eyed and bushy tailed school builders, we had to ensure we honored and learned from those who came before us. Within our founding years, we were lucky enough to connect with outstanding leaders, youth and communities who had interfaced with these systems long before our conceptions of the school were solidified. Due to the XQ Super School’s grant competition, we were able to rally exceptional leaders from trailblazing organizations like Children’s Law Center, School on Wheels, CASA Los Angeles and the Da Vinci Schools. We then began to enter local group homes and connected with advocates such as attorney’s, foster parents, judges, probation officers and social workers. As we humbly learned from the community our students inhabit, we began to build an audience of folks who could experience and witness the magic of the school we were creating. With these partners and our open-door visitation policy, RISE quickly rose to the top as one of the best school options for youth needing a different high school option.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the largest lessons we had to unlearn at RISE is the belief that adults are the best deciphers of adult’s ability to fit within a culture. At RISE we implement structures called “hiring symposiums” where students, staff, parents, and community partners all can meet and interview candidates. Most importantly, students often have the most insightful and powerful reflections that drive hiring decisions.
Given their unique experiences, our students are incredibly intuitive and share incredible insights as to persons mission- and vision-alignment, adaptability, and skillset within the school environment.
This experience was highlighted when we were seeking a new assistant principal. The adults were all starstruck at a candidate that had extensive experience in the juvenile justice system. We felt that this would equip her with the knowledge and skills necessary to operate effectively within our school environment. Following the interview we circled-up with the students to hear their insights. Teary eyes and frustrated, several students shared that hiring this person would have led to a mass re-triggering of many of our youth. They shared the underlying messaging behind how she spoke to them and the power of keeping that mindset away from a healing institution like RISE. We sat as learner’s and listened as our students educate us on the importance of methodical and protective staffing. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Since then, we do not hire without including our youth in the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dvrise.davincischools.org/
- Instagram: leogrijalva
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewrisehigh/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LWFWL9TqU
- Other: Digital Business Card: poplme.co/X2wAITIm
Image Credits
Stacee Lianna, Photographer (Grad Photos)