Janey Akagha

I have always had a passion for helping people. From caring for my three brothers to assisting other students and teachers at school and church throughout my life, I always knew I would feel most satisfied working within my community for the benefit of others. As I pondered majoring in non-profit leadership, therapy, psychology, and every other humanitarian profession I could think of, I found my place in education. Not many children have direct access to counselors or other community helpers, but almost every child is a part of an educational system, and it is my mission to pour out my life for the health, benefit, and well-being for as many children as my classroom will hold!

With this passion in mind, I graduated from Oklahoma City University in 2015 with a degree in Instrumental Music Education. I have taught 6th-8th grade Band and Orchestra at Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School for the past six years with a league of inspiring, kind, and thoughtful educators, staff, and administrators. It truly “takes a village”, and our students are surrounded by fiercely loving adults who link arms to hold up each child and one another through one of the most challenging and formative seasons in a human’s life: middle school.

My time in education has also been spent at Ralph Downs Elementary as a Teacher Assistant in an Early Childhood Special Education Classroom, El Sistema Oklahoma as an Instrumental Teacher, and privately as an Oboe Instructor. It has been my honor to teach over 1,000 students through all of these experiences. Each child has formed my approach to education, and my heart has continued to expand over and over again as each year billows into the next. My students’ unique strengths, quirks, passions, and chosen journeys have continued to remind me that students are far more capable of ingenuity, leadership, thoughtfulness, and world-changing ideas than they are given credit for.

What a gift it is to hold up the mind and heart of a child as they learn to love themselves and the journey of learning. OKCPS is overflowing with positively radiant students who are championed by thousands of educators, support staff, and administrators. I am verklempt when I take time to think about how much love, effort, and sacrifice is extended by all parties in every direction. We are surrounded by something far greater than I could ever imagine, and it is a joy to be a very small part of this miraculous beast we call education! 

As we continue to ride the residual waves of the tsunami that has continued to hit our educational system over the past few years, I pray we never lose sight of the strengths, gifts, capabilities, and influence we all carry and extend to one another. It is my joy to link arms with our greater educational community as I let out my warcry, “We are MADE for this!” We are made for this: this moment in history, this class of students, this set of unique circumstances. While we chart the unknown together, I hope we hold fast to the truth that the collective strengths that lie within us, our schools, and our community are precisely what our world needs right now. 

We are MADE for this!