Henrico's Top Teachers – Amy Ferry, Highland Springs Elementary School

At the Achievable Dream Academy at Highland Springs Elementary School, students in Amy Ferry’s first-grade class quickly learn that her expectations are lofty – but so are the levels of love and care she’ll show them.

Ferry arrived just as the school, which serves one of the most vulnerable student populations in Henrico County, was implementing the Achievable Dream program, run by a Newport News-based nonprofit that seeks to provide unique learning opportunities for at-risk kids. The school operates on a year-round basis, students wear uniforms and (during non-COVID times) take a variety of field trips and gain exposure to opportunities and mentors they might not otherwise have.

The setting is an ideal fit for Ferry, because teaching students who face an inordinate number of challenges outside the classroom (as many at Highland Springs Elementary do) is all she knows.

“I’ve only ever taught low-income children of color,” Ferry said, explaining that there’s no great secret to helping students of any background or social situation become effective learners.

“It’s not, ‘This is how you teach low-income kids,’” she said. “They’re just kids, and they need consistency more than anything. It is my job that, no matter where a child comes in [academically], they show significant growth in my presence.”

Ferry began her career in Newport News, then moved to New York City after two years and soon ended up teaching as a founding kindergarten teacher at a new charter school in Brooklyn through the Uncommon Schools program. The founding principal of the school, 25-year-old Darcy Richie, made a quick and lasting impact on her.

“She was the most influential person in my life,” Ferry said. “She saw something in me from day one and I still don’t know what it was.”

Richie, she said, pushed her to excel in all aspects of her life, which led Ferry five years later to help open another school in the city – this time as vice principal. It was at that point that Ferry, who had only become a teacher because her mom was a good one and she figured she could be too, finally realized that she was, in fact, just that.

“One day I woke up and thought, you know, I’m actually ok at this. [Richie] made me ok.”

In Ferry’s classroom (which this year is fully virtual), it’s not good enough for students to respect each other even if they don’t like each other all the time.

“You have to like, care and love every single person in this room,” she said. “That’s just who we are – there’s really no reason not to be that way.”

For Ferry, a big part of forming connections with her students is being vulnerable and honest herself. She moved back to Virginia from New York because her sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, and she wanted to help her and her brother with their family. When her sister-in-law has faced challenges, Ferry has bared her emotions with her class. When she explained that she would need to fly out of state to be with her sister-in-law for two weeks after a recent surgical procedure, Ferry’s students sympathized.

“They were telling me, ‘We’re thinking of you, we wish you could go with you and take care of you,’” she said.

A nominator wrote that Ferry’s impact upon her students is tremendous.

“Amy Ferry lives, breaths, and fights for what’s important,” the nominator wrote. “When students find out just how important they are. . . that’s when Ms. Ferry’s work has become impactful.

“Ms. Ferry shows up for her students everyday. No matter what she faces with her own life, she knows that showing up is how you show students you care. She cares about her students deeply. She supports her students with helping them find their own path to their own success. She believes everyone is reachable and deserves support.”