Teachers work each day to help students have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. Nowhere is this more important than in low-income communities where only 50 percent of students graduate from high school on time. This lack of educational opportunity considerably impacts Latino students, who are three times as likely to grow up in poverty. In honor of National Teachers Appreciation Week, Teach for America recently highlighted one of their teachers, Chicago native Aida Flores.

Flores grew up in the Mexican-American neighborhood, Pilsen. At 14, after having a child, she almost did not enroll in her local high school, Benito Juarez. During her first two years of high school, she had four Teach for America teachers. These teachers encouraged her to get involved in school programs, like the Debate Club and to go to college. She was accepted to Georgetown University and in 2008, returned to Chicago to be a teacher with Teach for America. Flores recognizes the positive impact these teachers had in her life and future success. This is why she has dedicated herself to helping a new generation attain a better future teaching at Benito Juarez, where she attended