Jerel Bryant,

Jerel is the CEO of Collegiate Academies and Principal of George Washington Carver High School. He has served as a principal for over a decade, where he has partnered with the community to build Carver into a model school for both the network and educators nationally. Like Carver itself, Jerel is known for his resilience. As Carver’s principal since 2012, Jerel has been working to advance and preserve the school’s legacy as a longstanding pillar within the Desire community and the Upper Ninth Ward. Now as CEO, he works to uplift and support school leaders across Collegiate to increase each school’s impact in partnership with their communities, and more broadly across New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

After receiving his B.A. in History from Yale, Teach For America brought Jerel to New Orleans in 2007 where he taught middle school English Language Arts for two years in Central City. Jerel joined the Collegiate Academies’ team in 2009 as a Civics teacher at Abramson Sci Academy. As a humanities teacher and dean, his teaching directly contributed to sophomore mastery on their Graduate Exit Exam.

In 2020, Jerel was the inaugural recipient of the Teach for America’s Collective National Advisory Board’s School Leader Honor, which recognizes the breadth and depth of his impact on Carver, Collegiate Academies, and the national education landscape. Most recently he was named Louisiana High School Principal of the Year.

See Our Whole Team →