Jeffrey Lowman/Arizona Republic

Justin O’Connell

KJZZ partners with the Arizona Republic to bring you the Arizona Storytellers series. We record the live events and share them with you on the radio. In Phoenix, the storytellers sometimes share stories about our community or the life events that have shaped them in general. Megan Finnerty is the creator of the series.

Justin O’Connell is the director of academic services at the Center for Student Achievement in Phoenix.

In 2010, O’Connell was a middle school teacher at a failing school in Nogales. Most of his students were a few years behind in their reading, writing and math skills. On the first day of school, O'Connell was giving his classroom rules speech when a student named Brian raised his hand.

Join us for our next night of live storytelling on Sept. 14, 2015, at the Phoenix Theatre.

→ Hear More Arizona Storytellers