Middlebury has a long standing relationship with Alexander Twilight. Twilight graduated from our institution in 1823. He has been noted as the first person of color to graduate from an American college, and later became the first American of African descent to serve in a state legislature in the United States, when he was elected to the Vermont General Assembly in 1836.

And today, we’re talking with Annie Weinberg, a 2010 graduate of Middlebury who has gone on to honor the legacy and spirit of Twilight, through founding the Alexander Twilight Academy 

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the Twilight Academy is a catalyst program designed to support students from under-resourced backgrounds. Beginning in the middle school years, ATA provides rigorous, year-round academic programming and mentorship for students who otherwise may have never gotten an opportunity to access such support.

In this conversation with host and Middlebury President Laurie Patton, Annie shares her inspiration to leave her finance career and pursue education. She emphasizes the transformative power of education and explains how her love for relationship-building and intellectual curiosity led her to establish the academy, saying that education should be the great equalizer in society and should help students identify and follow their passions.

[36:01] UNICEF calls middle school the second window of opportunity. The first window of opportunity is early childhood. The second window of opportunity is middle school. And I think that people think about middle school, and they just think about this hormonal, you know, this time where there's a lot of chaos going on and peak brain development, but it's also this moment of peak neuroplasticity and this ability to build self-efficacy. And if you can help harness a child's motivation and belief in themselves at that moment, there is a really high likelihood that they will begin to believe in themselves. And that course will longitudinally follow them for the rest of their lives. 

[11:28] While education in America is the vehicle that halts social mobility today, it should be, and has always been, promised to be, the great equalizer in America. And I think when we think about the origins of my story and founding Alexander Twilight Academy, it's in that innate belief in young people and their stories, and in the innate belief that education should and can be the great equalizer.

[40:59] The good thing about the career that I've chosen, and really the life's work that I've chosen, is that in this time of extreme tragedy and despair, I'm able to wake up every single morning and feel really hopeful optimistic about the future of our world because I know these amazing young people who, when they're at the helm, our world is going to be so much of a better place, and I think that's the big picture dream for Alexander Twilight Academy: that our students have built this network of people who look like them and who have grown up with them who can be those allies and disruptive change makers in America.