Sally Sorte has experienced all types of education. From working in resource-deficient elementary schools and high schools, to establishing a charter school and ultimately studying at HBS, she has learned, first-hand, of the unscrupulous distribution of wealth and education in the United States.
After graduating from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Sorte joined Teach for America and spent two years working with students in a historically underserved rural school in Hawaii that suffered from struggling graduation rates. She then moved to Detroit with her now husband to work in the online marketing department at Google while he helped start a TFA base in Michigan. This recently developed passion for teaching in areas that were void of critical resources galvanized her to apply to the Colorado Health Foundation for a grant to launch a whole child focused charter school in Denver. After a year of conducting extensive research on public and private schools, recruiting founding members, and applying for funding, the application for the charter school was approved, marking the establishment of Academy 360. As only graduating from college three years earlier, Sorte recognizes the unique and fresh zeal of her youth.
“People underestimate the fact that when you’re young, that is the best time to take risks,” she said. “Time and energy are so much more valuable than other things.”
She spent the next several years managing the finances, real estate development, hiring, compliance, governance, and general curriculum of the elementary school, which became a homebase and second family for a number of struggling children.
Sorte has always seen herself as “mission-driven.” Her passion to serve others is rooted in a desire to mobilize those in low-income communities. Sorte spent most of her time as a teacher or school leader working to break the cycle of poverty from within the bureaucratic system—instructing those who were already disadvantaged and working towards sending them towards more promising career trajectories. Yet she wasn’t satisfied with this approach, and after joining McKinsey for a year, entered Harvard Business School to focus on the venture capitalist side of the achievement gap and discover ways to proactively prevent circumstance from determining one’s ultimate success.
Sorte has also seen all types of students. She notes that “going from an under-resourced public school environment, where 90% of our families qualified for free or reduced lunch, to a well-resourced bubble like HBS is definitely a culture shock.” Upbringing, income, and family culture have distinct impacts on students’ access to quality education.
“But in the same way that Teach for America teaches a generation of young college graduates firsthand empathy on the frontlines of education, I hope HBS teaches some of that empathy through the case method and the globalized perspective of classmates and friends,” Sorte said.
She notes that teaching has likely been her most challenging job to date, but also recognizes the value of the lessons and perspectives she has gained from placing herself in such an exhausting position. Sorte encourages us all to surround ourselves with people and opportunities that challenge our opinions, and to appreciate the power in feelings of frustration and enlightenment. Demanding positions breed individuals in high demand, and we will only expand our skill sets if we search for ways to be proven wrong.
Marbella Marlo (mmarlo@college.harvard.edu) is the Forum Editor of the Independent.