I have been a professional educator since 2004. I am currently exploring positions within educational leadership. We do not educate children to provide students with opportunity, we educate them because they are necessary. We must foster each child’s unique talents and abilities because we cannot afford to squander them. We need those gifts and talents. We need that creativity. We need every shred of potential we have. When we recognize that each child has a unique and necessary role waiting for them in the future; when we recognize them reaching their fullest potential saves us; when it is not an opportunity you are afforded, but a duty you have and a duty we have to nurture within you, then it is no longer possible to neglect that responsibility. They are necessary.When we say we are teaching future leaders, we are. Our world is facing unprecedented existential threats. From implosion due to systemic racism, to climate change, to mass automation: we are preparing the people who will face those challenges. “Providing opportunity” is very well-planted in the American capitalist milieu that brought us to this brink. Our future leaders must be educated that they have a duty to reach their fullest potential and do what is right, rather than educate them that they have opportunities and can do what they want.To ensure each student feels the weight of their necessity and knows how much they mean to the world, I focus on relationship building. I want to build a positive school culture where everyone is included, everyone is welcome, and no one feels marginalized. I want children to learn and grow where they, exactly they, belong like a cold hand into a warm mitten.