Sunny Liu
New Mexico '13
University of New Mexico, Arizona State University
Policy & Government
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University of New Mexico
During his undergrad, Sunny served as a resident advisor and led the student government as a senator and vice president. He was appointed to the university president’s strategic advisory team (PSAT) to make recommendations on student matriculation and graduation rates. He was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
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Arizona State University
While pursuing his MBA, Sunny continued to lead the student government as a senator and vice president.
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Teach For America
Sunny joined the corps in New Mexico as a 2013 corps member. He taught high school math at Valley High School, serving a majority Native American student population.
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New Mexico State Legislature
Sunny currently works as a fiscal analyst in the New Mexico Legislature for the Legislative Finance Committee where he makes budget and policy recommendations for public schools in New Mexico.
Q&A
Describe your first day of teaching. What emotions were you feeling?
My first day of teaching was exhausting, but rewarding. I was very nervous that my student bingo game would fail because it required my students to find someone who had traveled outside of the country – I wasn’t sure how much my students traveled. And then, one of my students approached me and asked if I could sign her bingo sheet. Ironically, my students helped to break the ice for me and made not only my first day inviting, but the rest of my time with them a positive experience.
What would you consider your biggest success as a teacher?
My greatest success was spending extra time with my students before school, during lunch, and after school. Students were always in my classroom - I could never count on having a free prep hour except in the middle of the school day. And even then some would wander into my classroom, and I would have to tell them to go back to class (often after talking through what was bothering them). But the extra time paid off. I got to help one of my students, who had failed algebra twice, learn how to solve a quadratic equation and hear about another student who graduated and later became an educator. I learned so much about my students, heard stories about their lives, met family members, and went to community gatherings. I believe those moments were my biggest success as a teacher.
Was leaving the classroom a difficult decision to make?
Leaving the classroom was difficult because I really loved teaching and helping my students grow academically and socially. But I felt the underlying issues at my school were not within my control, and I wanted to affect change at a higher level. So when the opportunity to work in a policy setting came along, I decided to take it.
Describe the role TFA has played in the development of your career. What parallels are you able to draw between your time as a corps member and your current role/profession?
Being a former teacher has helped me build credibility with policymakers, not only because I learned how to communicate and explain issues in an understandable manner but also because of my perspective from the classroom. Funnily enough, teaching lawmakers about policy issues is pretty similar to describing learning objectives to students.