This Is What "Achievement First" Looks Like: One Teacher's Extraordinary Investment in His Students * Brooklyn Paper

A Morehouse College T-shirt in a classroom sparked conversations and college dreams for students. A sixth-grade math teacher gave the shirt to Papo Morales with an instruction to display it when he became a teacher. Years later, seniors saw the shirt and expressed interest in attending Morehouse, including Elijah Dupigny and Alex. Morales made it his mission to help them reach their chosen colleges. Elijah became a Morehouse sophomore on a full Morgan Stanley scholarship, double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy, while Alex attended Brown University. Morales returned to teach at the same school where he had studied, emphasizing care before students enter the world and support after they leave. His support included long hours, repeated scholarship application work, and help with essays and financial aid forms.

"There is a Morehouse College T-shirt pinned to the wall of Papo Morales's classroom at Achievement First Brooklyn High School. A sixth-grade math teacher gave it to him years ago with a simple instruction: "When you become a teacher, put this up in your classroom." He did. And every year, for the seniors who walk through Mr. Morales's door, it starts a conversation."

"For Elijah Dupigny, one of those seniors, it helped spark a dream. When Elijah saw the shirt, he told Morales he wanted to go to Morehouse. So did his classmate Alex, the class valedictorian. From that moment, Morales made it his mission to help them reach the colleges they had set their sights on. Today, Elijah is a sophomore at Morehouse College on a full Morgan Stanley scholarship, double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. Alex is at Brown University."

""I'm the last man at the door before you enter into the world," he says. "My job is to care about you here. And my obligation is to care about you when you leave." That obligation, in practice, looks different from what most people imagine when they picture a high school teacher. For Elijah, it looked like Morales staying at school until 8:30 p.m., helping him record scholarship video applications again and again until they got it right."

"The first scholarship did not come through. The Morgan Stanley full ride did. And Morales was there for every step. At AF Brooklyn High, Morales'class is one of the hardest, and it is always packed. Whether he is assigning weekend essays, guiding AP Research stude"

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