Tahisha Richards

Tahisha Richards figured the moment had passed her by.

For so long she’d thought one day she’d become a teacher. During the 14 years she worked with children and families in the social services field. As she volunteered to lead school reading groups. Even as she raised four children of her own. 

And throughout, she’d “always had a heart for kids.”

Others noticed. 

“Aren’t you a teacher?” she’d be asked.

“You were born to be a teacher,” she’d be told.

“It’s never too late,” someone said to her one day, and she couldn’t get the comment out of her head.

Today, Tahisha is finishing up her master’s in Childhood/Literacy Education at Sage. She’s about to realize that ambition she’s held for so long.

“No, it’s never too late,” she says. “But it will take hard work, commitment to your end goal, and the belief that no matter how difficult it gets you will make it. There were so many times when I didn’t think I’d make it.”

But she and Sage made a great fit. “The professors were amazing,” Tahisha says. “They were both down-to-earth and full of knowledge. They were always ready to answer my questions. And believe me, I’m a question-asker.”

There was also a shared commitment to take on the challenges of diversity in education. “As a Black woman, parent and educator, that’s important to me,” Tahisha says. And she found it was important to her teachers as well.  Together, they explored best practices in teaching diverse populations, how you look at students as unique, whole individuals, and how you check your own biases at the classroom door.

Tahisha feels fully able now to be the kind of teacher she always wanted to be. 

She didn’t always feel so strong.

“I always admired teachers so much,” she says. “It made me doubt my own abilities. But I’ve grown in confidence. I’ve learned not to doubt myself. It’s been quite the journey.