Angelo Cross: Teaching Fellow turned Campus Director

Senior Campus Director, Angelo Cross (center, back row) leads the Henderson campus team in Henderson, NC.

Angelo Cross began working with Citizen Schools in 2006 as a Teaching Fellow at the Mildred Avenue Middle School in Boston, MA.  He applied to the fellowship because he was interested in experiencing what out-of- school time education could be and its influence on students’ academic success.   

             ”The Fellowship provided me with a front line, in depth look at the state of education in our country. The biggest perk to the fellowship was the culture of achievement it was submerged in.  I was surrounded by really brilliant educators which forced me to grow and allowed for me to become innovative in my own work.   

              During my two years in the Teaching Fellowship, I learned a lot. I developed into a better educator and professional. Toward the end of my fellowship experience, I began looking for the next challenge.  I started to think about the role of Campus Director.  I compared my skill set to that of my own Campus Director, and it allowed me to see the areas I was really strong in, and what areas I really needed to improve upon in order to run a successful program and tight ship like the one my Campus Director ran. Along with doing that comparison and reflection, I reached out to several Campus Directors to talk about their experiences and asked them to mentor me through the process.  I was really surprised by the amount of support I received.  When I interviewed for the position, I had the opportunity to share my passion for the work Citizen Schools does, my vision of accomplishing Citizen Schools’ goals on a programmatic level, how I would develop in areas I was lacking in, and how I could endure and remain optimistic and tenacious during rough and challenging obstacles.  

               I wanted to defy the odds, do the impossible, and prove to a lot of people that I could be a successful Campus Director. I wanted to be in charge of building a program from scratch that helped people think differently about their lives, their education, and their influence on others.  At a very basic level, I just wanted to continue to serve people.  My role as a Campus Director for the past three years has really allowed me to achieve my goals.”