Cassi Sweeney had an untraditional start to her teaching career. As an undergrad in sociology, she became outraged at the inequity that exists in education and decided to join Teach For America. During her 2-year commitment to work in St. Louis Public schools, she fell in love with teaching and working with middle school students to help them develop a passion for reading and to find their voice through writing. She decided to go back to school at University of Missouri–St. Louis to earn her full teacher certification and MEd. For the next 13 years she continued teaching English Language Arts at her original placement school. Cassi has recently made the transition into higher education as the academic advisor for the Teach For America–St. Louis and Teach in Residency alternative teacher certification programs. She looks forward to working with graduate students who are just getting started in their teaching careers.
