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Fakhra, a San Francisco Bay Area native and high school teacher, teaches courses through the San Francisco Peer Resources Program at Mission High School. Shah works to educate and empower youth of diverse backgrounds to become critical thinkers who challenge systems of oppression and who take steps to create lasting institutional change. Over the past few years, Shah has developed curricula that challenge Islamophobia, racism and hate speech, seeking to further support marginalized students in her classes.

Becki Cohn-Vargas is the director of Not In Our School (NIOS) and a national speaker on the subject of school-based bullying. Currently she develops standards-based bullying prevention curriculum and has worked with over 150 NIOS efforts at schools and colleges across the United States. Earlier in her career, she spent over 35 years in public education in California. Her new book,“ Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn,” co-authored with Dorothy Steele, was published by Corwin Press .

Michelle Nicola is a Spanish and language arts teacher at Bridger Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, and formerly at De La Salle North Catholic High School. Nicola previously taught courses on equity and social justice at George Fox University. She uses innovative learning techniques and is always ready to turn her classroom into a theater, dance club or soap opera to reach her students. She is also a recipient of the 2014 Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Howard is a staff attorney and juvenile justice policy specialist at the Southern Poverty Law Center. She specializes in youth-based civil rights litigation as well as education and juvenile justice systems reform.

Dr. Mikki Shaw has worked in education for over 40 years, as a high school teacher and as a teacher educator. She has a deep commitment to public education and to students at risk.

Walker is a writer and editor based in Illinois.

Harris is a teacher, tutor and volunteer in California.

Jacob Wheeler is a freelance journalist who splits his time between Chicago and Michigan. He is an assistant editor at In These Times magazine and has written a book on the Guatemalan adoption industry.

McGill is a writer and artist. He taught high school language arts and journalism courses in Oregon. He is the author of the memoir Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me.

Montana writer and poet Jennifer Greene was teaching college students before she got her first real look at the history of the Flathead Reservation and how her ancestors, the Bitteroot Salish people, came to live there. In her fiction and poetry — including this story — she often puts herself in the place of those ancestors, recreating their voices.