Camden Eastside High’s Assistant Principal Helps Students Realize Their Full Potential

Posted by TapintoCamden on January 2, 2024

Iran L. Mercado had some amazing teachers while attending Creative Arts High School. Even so, he faced academic challenges after graduating as salutatorian of his Creative Arts High School’s graduating class and entering Howard University.

“I always had high test scores (and) tested well,” he said. “But going to a school with students who were from more affluent areas and had access to a higher level of education than myself, I realized that I had to play catch-up.”

Mercado said his Creative Arts High School teachers, particularly Joelle Wagner-Lynch and Angela Wright-Yelverton, and his college experience were his impetus for entering the field of education.

“I make it my business to make sure that other kids from the city do not have to play catch-up,” he said. “It is up to me to provide them with the level of education that I would want for myself and what I would want for my children.”

Upon college graduation, Mercado said he spent a year teaching in the nation’s capital, but felt he was not making any impact. He said it was only after he followed in the footsteps of those amazing teachers and began teaching English at Creative Arts High School in his hometown that he began to feel like he was making a difference.

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