« Preston Smith on Finding Meaningful Work in Elementary Education »

In Chapter 2 of 22 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, elementary charter school network CEO Preston Smith answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?" Smith shares how he gets fulifillment helping kids and families come together around a shared education purpose. Teaching elementary school creates lifetime bonds between Smith, his students and their families serve to constantly remind him of the bigger mission in his work long after he has left the classroom teaching for a CEO job. Preston Smith is co-founder and CEO of Rocketship Education, the highest performing low-income school system in California. After graduating the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Smith joined Teach for America. After three years teaching 1st Grade, he founded a district school in San Jose and became its principal. Smith was selected as a member of the 2010 class of Aspen Institute New Schools Fellows.