Educational Milestone for 1998 Alumna

Challa Wright Flemming, Class of 1998, has achieved a professional milestone: 20 years as an educator.

 

Challa began her career as a teaching fellow at P.S. 103, a K-5 elementary school in the North Bronx neighborhood of New York. During her five-year tenure, she taught fourth and fifth grade. Additionally, she spent one year as a human resources facilitator, in which she supported teachers and administrators on a classroom level and helped coordinate the school’s character education program. 

“The most rewarding part of being an educator is knowing the impact I have had on all those I have been lucky enough to teach over the last 20 years,” said Challa. “You do not always know it or see it in the moment, but when students reach out to you years later to share the impact you had, nothing brings more joy.”

 

Following her time within the New York City Department of Education, Challa returned home to Connecticut, where she became a founding teacher at Achievement First, Bridgeport Academy. During her 10-year post, she served as a teacher, instructional coach, academic dean, and principal. In 2017, Challa transitioned to her current position, assistant professor of practice at the Relay Graduate School of Education. 

 

In her role as a “teacher educator,” Challa said she teaches core pedagogy courses, elementary methods courses, and clinical practice classes at the school’s Connecticut campus.

 

Challa noted that teaching is in her blood as her mother was a teacher and two of her great aunts and godparents worked as educators as well. She further noted that “education is an act of love, and it is an honor to serve others in this way.”

 

As aspiring educators, Challa often shares her fond memories of Hamden Hall with her graduate students, noting that the right teacher can make a difference. The teachers who have inspired her and her career path in education include former Middle School math teacher Jim Craddock, former Upper School math teacher Andrew Lundgren, and former faculty member Sally Mixsell.

 

Challa graduated from Wesleyan University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology followed by a Master’s of Science in elementary education and teaching from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. In 2020, she earned a Higher Education Teaching certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently enrolled as a doctoral student at Alverno College with anticipation of earning her Doctor of Education degree.