Speaking to graduates at this year’s first-ever master’s and doctoral student commencement, middle school teacher Julia Rampersad will use her passion for literacy to inspire her fellow Lehman alumni as they take their next steps. For Rampersad, who is earning a master’s degree in Literacy Studies, it’s all about creating change. As an English Language Arts teacher, she’s done just that by founding a literacy intervention program at her Bronx school and partnering with programs that promote reading skills for high school students to prepare them for college success. 

“I will always learn much more from my students than they will ever learn from me,” Rampersad said. With the knowledge she’s gained from her students and her experience at Lehman, she looks forward to empowering even more students through evidence-based reading instruction and educational justice. Her work, she said, is guided by the words of Frederick Douglass: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”