Teaching the next generation

Jennifer Schroeder ’15 received the Excellence in Teaching Award—one of the highest honors in the D.C. Public School System from the Posse Foundation.

By Madeline Marriott ’24

Life as a teacher has come full circle for Jennifer Schroeder ’15.

She first fell in love with science as a seventh grader, discovering a passion for biology and its underlying processes. Now, she’s at the front of the classroom trying to inspire that same passion in her own middle school students.

“I love that science is exploratory, and you have to generate your own right answer,” Schroeder says. “I love that it taps into all different areas—you need reading and math and social studies to be at play in your scientific thinking, and there’s so much to do in a science classroom.”

Schroeder began her Lafayette career as a biology major, looking to enter the medical field, but babysitting and working with kids led her to realize she wanted to pursue teaching instead. She joined Teach for America after graduation and began her career as an educator, then pursued a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University. She next went to work in the Washington, D.C., public school system, where she has taught all subjects over the last 11 years, including science for the past three.

“I’ve taught from kindergarten up through middle school, and I’ve been in many different roles: mentor teacher, resident principal, classroom teacher, soccer and basketball coach, program lead, you name it,” she says.

Teaching science allows Schroeder to extend learning beyond the classroom and into the community.

“We want our students to get hands-on experiences,” she says. “Recently, they’ve been out in the community not just to pick up trash, but to understand how trash gets broken down in the environment. That’s when we get to put the science to work and see the physical impact that littering has on the community.”

She has also helped implement a new curriculum at the district level that prioritizes including students of all backgrounds.

“I serve a lot of students with language barriers and students from all different economic situations, and we want to implement this curriculum in a way that ensures they can all access it and all retain information,” she says.

Since 2018, Schroeder has worked as a community liaison and coach for DC SCORES, a nonprofit organization that encourages students to become poet-athletes, forming bonds with their soccer team and learning to express themselves through poetry.

“We help students not only to be active, but to become well-rounded, amazing human beings,” she says. “There’s a poetry slam in the fall, and the spring is focused on a service learning project. One year, my students built a community garden—they went around the neighborhood, figured out what people needed, and got it done.”

Schroeder, who was a Posse Scholar during her time at Lafayette, was recently honored with the 2025 Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award from the Posse Foundation. The national award is given to one outstanding Posse alumna/alumnus who has demonstrated incredible leadership and success while giving back to the world. Schroeder is the second Lafayette alumnus to receive the award after Laquan Lightfoot ’11 won in 2016.

The Posse Foundation recognized Schroeder out of nearly 30,000 alumni for her efforts in the D.C. school system—in addition to her curriculum work, community-based science learning, and mentorship through DC SCORES, Schroeder has worked to bring a culinary arts program and a business academy to her school, expanding offerings for her students to explore their passions at every turn. The award is an addition to Schroeder’s growing list of accolades; last year, she won the Excellence in Teaching Award—one of the highest honors in the D.C. Public School System, and she also continues to mentor high school students through the Posse Foundation.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by Posse,” Schroeder says. “I was diagnosed with a chronic illness during my first year at Lafayette, and my Posse was my rock. My mentor, Andrea Smith, made sure I got what I needed for my classes, and my Posse was there for me through everything. We challenged each other’s thinking, gave each other a safe space, and are still each other’s biggest fans to this day. It’s important to me to be able to give back.”

The Posse award includes a $10,000 grant to continue her work.