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It was Ms. Barcelona who taught Wesley Guy how to spell in elementary school, with a YouTube series called Spelling Rap Rhymes. “My education and music have always been intertwined,” he says.
Two decades later, Guy, 30, is himself blending music and teaching. He works in the special education department at Central Catholic High School and has released an album, Bok Choy. He got his start in teaching four years ago in the Step Up program of what’s now McDaniel High School: “That’s where I fell in love with education.”
Guy has grown used to walking the halls of Portland high schools—McDaniel, Parkrose and now Central Catholic—and seeing students who are far more diverse than their instructors. He hopes his presence as a Black man allows a few of those teenagers to use their own voices rather than speak from the perspective of someone else.
WW is celebrating Black History Month by meeting some of the people shaping Oregon’s future: Black teachers. Look for a photo essay on a new teacher each week of February.
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