Preston Achilike is currently a doctoral student in the Education Leadership and Policy program at The University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a bachelor's degree in government and Spanish and Portuguese from UT Austin and a master's degree in education policy and management from Harvard University. As an undergraduate, Achilike studied and worked abroad in Argentina and Brazil, eventually leading him to his passions related to second language acquisition, quality bilingual programs, and empowerment of undeserved communities. After living abroad, he obtained master's degrees in secondary education in foreign language and Catholic school administration at Boston College. The majority of his professional experience has been in teaching Spanish and ESL within the Boston and Houston public school systems, as well as doing policy research related to legislation that impacts the quality of education for English Language Learners within the public school system. Currently, he serves as a Spanish instructor and the middle school coordinator of equity and inclusion at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. Achilike's research interests stem from working with the State of Massachusetts Education Committee and experiencing first-hand how Sheltered English Immersion Programs often limit literacy of children in both English and their home language. He aspires to create his own bilingual school and potentially make it a model that other schools will follow.