Salome Thomas-El, the headmaster of Thomas Edison Charter School, has spent more than 30 years teaching his students life lessons through the game of chess. 90% of the students at the school live at or below the poverty level. "These children are playing chess and graduating high school and going to some of the top colleges in the nation," Thomas-El said.
As Thomas-El was looking for innovative ways to teach children math early in his career, he turned to a game from his childhood: chess. "I started actually teaching students math on the chessboard where knights move on right angles, bishops move on diagonals(对角线). I fell in love with the game as a teacher. Through chess, Thomas-El saw that his students were learning more than just math —they developed confidence and self-respect. Thomas-El decided to get more students involved in chess. He provided chess sets and students began playing during breakfast and lunch. He also opened up the school on Saturdays to give students the chance to play chess, learn and get weekend meals.
Soon, Thomas-El was able to form his own chess team of 40 students. Because some tournaments are all-female, he decided to also create an all-girls team. Over his career. Thomas-EI's all-girls teams have taken on men twice their age and come out victorious. One of his teams even went three years undefeated.
Thomas-El said his proudest moments as an educator do not come from watching his students win games, but from watching them succeed in life. Many of the girls he's coached in chess have gone on to attend schools like Cornell and the University of Virginia on scholarships. Some of them became teachers themselves and come back to help their community.
In the future, Thoma-El hopes to expand chess's impact on students as a board member of America's Foundation for Chess, which has launched a new chess program for kids in school called" First Move. "
