Every time the three educators-in-training leave Denver’s Green Valley Elementary School, students ask when they will be back.
They invite the three men to basketball practice and games. The students get excited to see them during special events like Trunk-or-Treat — and not just because they give big handfuls of candy.
In short, Joshua Barringer, Christopher Livingston, and Jordan Puch have become very popular. That may be in part because Green Valley students — most of whom are Black and Hispanic — often don’t get to interact with Black male teachers like Barringer, Livingston, and Puch.
“They love us. They always want to come up to us and give us a hug,” Barringer said. “It’s just amazing how the kids click with us and we only got here but so long ago.”
Read more at Chalkbeat Colorado.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.