Casey Lartigue Jr., center, Lee-Eun-koo, right, and Lim Eun-ji answer questions at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Alumni of Color Conference, March 1. Courtesy of Freedom Speakers International

You think you know exactly where you're headed. You’re standing on the stage at the inaugural Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC) in 2003, speaking with conviction about school choice in Washington, D.C. You were then working as a policy analyst at the Cato Institute and were a board member of organizations such as The Black Alliance for Educational Options, advocating for low-income students to have better educational opportunities. The energy in the room is electric. You believe this is your fight — your purpose.

And in many ways, it is. Your research and advocacy helped shape policies that gave thousands of students in D.C. a chance at a better education. The Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was created, giving 1,800 low-income students access to private schools they wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. You made an impact, carrying a briefcase as you write studies and edit a book about education reform and carrying a protest sign as an advocate giving speeches, recruiting parents to join the program, and testifying before the U.S. Congress.

But here’s something you don’t know yet: This is not the path you will stay on.

You step away from policy debates in Washington and also step away from Harvard University. After speaking at the Harvard Law School in 2004, you won’t step foot on Harvard’s campus again until 2015. You’ll be doing something completely different by then.

And in 2023 — twenty........

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