The Massive Educational Impact of Massa-Bu Tulay M’24

The 3,4 and 5-year-old students in Massa-Bu Tulay’s Lower Southampton Early Childhood Learning Center Head Start class - the federally-funded program that provides education, health and social service to low-income families - have hit the teacher lottery.  

The soon-to-be Holy Family University master’s graduate, who earns her Prek-4 degree in a few weeks, began her educational journey as a Head Start student herself, thanks to a lottery of a different sort.

“My mother was eight months pregnant with me when, living in the West African country of Liberia, she won a travel visa lottery and was able to come to America,” Tulay said of mother, Elizabeth Williams.  “She later was able to bring over my grandmother, and then my two older brothers, to join us in the States. Because we were low income, I was enrolled in Head Start, so I know the challenges that my students face.  It took a lot of people to be in my corner, to encourage me and to support me, so maybe I can be an example. Maybe I can make a difference.  I was a part of girl scouts and drill teams because they were programs that were offered in the neighborhood, because we were low income.  Because of that, I always try to take the time to give back to the community that gave so much to me.”

Following graduation from Truman High School in Levittown, PA, where she fell in love with forensic science through television programs like NCIS and Law and Order and an incredibly engaging teacher, Tulay enrolled at Delaware State University and earned a bachelor of science degree in biology and a minor in forensic science. When she returned to Philadelphia, landing a job in the field proved challenging so she began working as a classroom assistant during the day and in the Mad Science program after school.  One of the teachers that Tulay worked with recognized her gift with children, encouraged her to look into a master’s program in teaching, and included a letter of recommendation toward that pursuit.  Tulay, whose older brother, Kangoma Tulay ’06, graduated from Holy Family, enrolled at HFU because of its reputation in education and never looked back.

“I think Holy Family prepared me for the professional side of everything and set the standard for me,” she said.  “I was able to go to my classes, have a job, complete my practicum and student teaching.  I was able to see many different perspectives and gain hands-on learning.  The people at Holy Family knew how to communicate, how to answer my questions, provide good feedback.  It wasn’t easy for me, but I put in the time, and I felt prepared and supported.  When I went on my first interview, I was confident.”

Tulay has used her personal journey to celebrate the diversity of the students that she encounters.

“I understand how it feels to be one of the kids who doesn’t look like everyone else, who has a very unique name,” she said.  “I want my students to embrace their differences and their culture and their family as much as possible.  I say, ‘my name is Massa-Bu.  I have the letter U in my name.  I have a dash in my name.  I’m African.  I’m Liberian.’  My classroom is very diverse.  So, I will play songs in different languages and invite my students to share their culture and traditions.  I want my students to say that I made a difference in their lives, that I was there when they needed someone.  I was someone they could talk to. I was a mentor.  I gave them advice, and was someone who made them not want to give up.  I feel like it does take a village to take care of a child, and I feel like I am a part of their village.”

Tulay will be teaching in her fourth consecutive summer program this summer while working to secure a full-time teaching post (preferably kindergarten).  She also hopes to one day teach in a STEM or science program, maybe even forensic science, in the older grades, and will likely be returning to school to secure a science certification. 

“I wanted to be in education to give back because teachers played a huge part in my life,” Tulay said.  “I didn’t have a lot of role models. Having the opportunity to go to school, to have friends and to be in a safe place meant everything to me.  I want my classroom to be a safe place.  As a single mother coming to this country alone, my mother was so brave, and she still is the bravest person I know. She thinks highly of education, and she brags about me being a teacher.  She always told me when I first started working with kids that ‘when it is time to leave, you are not going to want to leave because you are going to fall in love with the kids’.” 

Massa-Bu’s mother was right and, for that reason, she tries to appreciate the moments she has with the kids, because she knows that she is going to have to grow and expand to be the educator she one day hopes to be.

“I know that I am going to be a lifelong learner because I enjoy going to school,” she said.  “It will be exciting to walk across the stage to receive my master’s degree. It represents a lot of hard work and a new beginning, and I feel like the sky is the limit, and this is just the stepping stone to what’s next in my life.”