Jacques Voltaire teaches Shakespeare, runs an SAT/ACT boot camp and routinely helps immigrant learners navigate high school in a brand new language.
And the challenges they face? Voltaire knows them first-hand.
The St. Lucie Acceleration Academies English language arts content coach came to the United States from his native Haiti at the age of 5, speaking only Creole and marveling at an urban landscape far different from his island village.
“I still remember it like it was yesterday,” Voltaire says of his family’s move to Brooklyn, NY. “First time I ever had pizza.”
Starting kindergarten at P.S. 244, his teacher paired him with some other Haitian students whose English skills were stronger. “Hey, you take care of him,” Miss Artz told the other children. He says, “I just remember those moments, the impact of teachers — that’s why I became a teacher.”
In high school, he had an English instructor who brimmed with passion for the language. “Mr. James had a love for words,” Voltaire recalls. “He would use really big words with us; he would say ‘cacaphonous’ where we were being loud … ‘audacity’ … ‘Sword of Damacles.’ ”
That experience ignited his passion for his new language and, after a brief spell studying hospitality management in college, Voltaire switched his major to English. He began his studies in community college, then transferred to Florida Atlantic University to complete his bachelor’s degree.
Like many Acceleration Academies students from families of modest means, Voltaire had to work full-time to support himself. He attended class after work in the evenings, graduating 7 years after he began and then launching his career in teaching.
After working at a public charter school, he joined the St. Lucie Acceleration Academies team in 2018. He was drawn by the personalized, non-traditional path offered to students — who are called “graduation candidates” — who hadn’t found success in traditional settings.
“What drew me was the company’s mission. I said to my wife, ‘This is life-changing stuff,’ ” recalls the father of 2. “You’re giving a sense of pride to those who’ve been told they can’t succeed. I just wanted to be a part of that, you know, and I haven’t looked back.”
One of his students was a basketball player who struggled in school. Voltaire shared his passion for the sport, and he used that common ground to help the young man hit his stride; today, he’s in college. From time to time, Voltaire will send him a text message saying, “Hey phenom, I’m just checking on you. What’s up?”
“With Acceleration, I get a chance to know these kids’ stories in a way I was never able to before,” he says. “You just feel connected.”
Many students arrive with weak reading and writing skills, and Voltaire tries to meet them where they are. “This GC has a language barrier, and you’re trying to teach them Hamlet,” he says. How does he do it? “Make it dramatic; they love drama. I say, ‘Hey, let me tell you a story about betrayal. Have you ever watched Lion King?’ ”
“If they can connect to the text, they can say, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ ”
Because Florida students have to pass a standardized exam to graduate, Voltaire runs “boot camps” at which they can take sample tests, analyze their mistakes and prepare to get a good score the next time around. With that success, and their SLAA coursework completed, they are ready to stride across the stage at commencement, claim their diplomas and move toward lives of possibility.
“For them to have a future, to me that’s what this is all about,” says Voltaire. “A course completion is great, but to have a life is priceless.”