By Mary Wolters, Staff Reporter

Before her three-week trip to China in 2006, Advanced Placement Seminar and Honors American Voices teacher Claire Miller had never really considered a career in education. However, on an enlightening trip to China, she found inspiration to not only pursue several degrees in teaching, but also to establish a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering teachers and students: Restorative Practices in Action (RPIA).

“I realized that teaching just made my heart sing,” Miller said. “I light up teaching. It brings me a lot of joy. The idea of partnering with students drew me in and then realizing it lights me up inside is what made me stay and pursue it.”

For the past nine years, Miller has taught at Conestoga while also running RPIA. She assembled a board of directors, built an in-depth program to educate teachers across many different schools and raised money to fund her organization.

Teachers in the greater Philadelphia area heard about the program through community advertisements. Miller trained hundreds of RPIA teachers with monthly meetings on student leadership and empowerment.

“That became challenging while also teaching, but I just could not leave my first love, which is my heart and soul. So, I was trying to find that balance,” Miller said. “And Conestoga was amazing, students and staff were like, ‘Hey, pursue this and we’ve got you covered,’ which was great.”

RPIA’s influence quickly expanded as schools started to reach out to partner with Miller’s organization. These schools were known as RPIA cohort schools, which began with just a few RPIA teachers and administrators in the schools, and rapidly grew until a majority of the teachers had joined the organization and received training in restorative practices.

However, Miller knew she would not be able to keep the tenuous balance between operating RPIA and teaching at Conestoga running forever. She had many responsibilities, both in her teaching career and nonprofit work outside of school that were bound to collide.

“Over time, I realized I did have to make a decision,” Miller said. “And I had to double down on (running RPIA) or double down on coming back to my first love.”

Last year, RPIA fully dissolved as a nonprofit organization. RPIA cohort schools implemented their own programs to train their teachers on restorative practices. A team of previous RIPA coaches from each school continues to take advice from Miller, who organizes monthly training meetings.

“It’s been really exciting to see this year that schools that have picked it up, made it their own and are really manifesting our mission, as I’ve made the decision to come back full time to what brings me joy,” Miller said.

In the future, Miller hopes to write a book about her unique experience as a founder of a nonprofit spreading awareness of restorative practices. Along with her passion for literature, she has also been interested in running a marathon and traveling to more countries.

Despite all of the elements of teaching that Miller loves, her favorite part has always been lifting up her students. No matter the method, Miller strives to foster student leadership and empowerment.

“I hope their biggest takeaway (from my class) is that they are valuable, and they have a voice that can create change,” Miller said. “That’s why I’m here. I want students to know they matter.”

Mary Wolters can be reached at [email protected].