As a product of a sprawling, diverse Chicago public school, Lauren Merkley knew early on that she wanted to teach high school English. However, after graduating with a bachelor of arts in English from Cornell University, Merkley stumbled into an unexpected career: fundraising. Over nearly a decade, she worked on behalf of a theatre in Washington, DC, Cornell University, and Mount Sinai Health System, to alchemize donors’ passion into dollars supporting the pressing needs of art, education, and global health. Thanks to a move from New York City to Salt Lake City, Merkley returned to her long-held dream of teaching. She jumped at the chance to work at Cottonwood High School in Murray, UT, where she has the joy of teaching juniors in English 11 and AP English language and composition. With students hailing from Afghanistan to Eritrea, Merkley has embraced the challenges of helping extraordinarily diverse students find and hone their own voice through critical thinking, close reading, and civil discourse. She advocates fiercely on behalf of underrepresented students both in and outside of her classroom, striving to make Cottonwood and the system ever more equitable. Together and separately, education and philanthropy manifest Merkley’s highest aim: to love (philos) mankind (anthros). In the classroom, her love takes the form of engaging instruction in literature and rhetoric that hones and honors each student’s story, helping them wield their own voice as a tool among peers and among mankind at large.