This Detroit educator used a sense of community and mentorship to help a student through a personal tragedy

Patrice Wright is committed to being an advocate for her students, she said.

The Michigan State University graduate is a youth worker with Playworks Michigan, an organization that puts AmeriCorps members in schools to teach social skills through physical activities and games.

In her first year working in Detroit schools, Wright said she drew on her own experience at Renaissance High School to help her students.

“Some of the best teachers that I learned how to be a teacher from and how to be a youth worker from are in DPS,” she said. “The hearts of the teachers never change.”

When one of Wright’s students witnessed the violent murder of an immediate family member, the child returned to school the next day, she said.

The student “knew there was somebody there who cared about her, school was that safe space she knew she could come to.”

Wright told her Detroit school story as part of Chalkbeat’s Story Booth series, which began last spring with our storytelling launch event at the Charles H. Wright Museum. If you know someone with a Detroit schools story to tell — a teacher, student parent or anyone else — please let us know.

Watch Patrice’s full story below: