Name: Justin Bolsen

Hometown: Canton, GA

Program: MAT Social Studies Cohort

Education: Graduating from Brown in May 2026 (A.B Public Policy Economics, Hispanic Languages and Cultures)

What drew you to the Bacc/MAT program?

The energy, liveliness, and enthusiasm of the professors involved in the program. I truly believe that I’m in line to learn from the best teacher preparation program that there is. The Education Department faculty really care about our success.

How have your undergraduate studies, along with your other experiences, inspired you to pursue teaching?

Almost two-thirds of Providence Public Schools students are Hispanic, but their cultural and linguistic backgrounds can go unaccounted for in their learning environments. By getting an undergraduate degree in Hispanic Languages and Cultures, I feel much more confident in my goal of providing a culturally responsive learning environment for my future students if I teach in PPSD.

What or who inspired you to become a teacher?

I’ve always had an interest in working with structural issues in education, which was a big part of the reason I decided to concentrate in Public Policy Economics here at Brown. I thought that taking a quantitative approach to these issues would allow me to approach questions of curricula and programming with rational, data-driven responses. However, I never felt like I was getting anything more than a big, fuzzy picture in looking at quantitative studies, and I always felt like I needed to see classrooms and student-school relationships on a smaller scale to really understand what’s happening with public education. In teaching, I hope to make a positive impact on an individual scale, learning qualitatively instead of quantitatively.

What does educational equity mean to you?

To me, educational equity means challenging each and every student to learn at the level most engaging and appropriate for their interests, abilities, and life experiences.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I love strengthening my mind, and I feel like one of the best ways to accomplish that is by taking care of my body! I’m a member of the Brown Competitive Climbing Club in my free time, and I’m usually biking or lifting weights whenever I’m not climbing. You can also find me writing, listening to music, and staring at nature when I’m not planning my next shenanigan. 

Can you speak to any experiential learning, research or teaching opportunities of importance?

Shoutout to Generation Teach at Nathan Bishop for making me excited about teaching and learning from Providence students every single day this past summer!