How One Mentorship Shaped a New Author’s Journey and Impact in Schools

Michael Haggen, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic, and author Trey Baker both understand the importance of storytelling and mentorship.

Stories can help students feel seen. They also encourage people to connect with and understand others who have different lived experiences than their own. 

Michael Haggen, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic, and Trey Baker, author and Harvard master’s student, both understand the importance of storytelling and mentorship in young people’s lives. 

How Mentorship Inspires

Haggen and Baker first met at a 2021 conference in Washington, D.C. when Baker was still in high school. That initial meeting grew into a mentor-mentee relationship that has shaped Baker’s work as a writer, educator, and leader. 

“Michael has changed my life in terms of what is possible when you put your mind to something and really work hard,” Baker said. “You realize that what you’re on this earth to do is bigger than you, and if you’re willing to accept that and believe in that, there is a community out there to support you. To me that captures what Michael has meant to me in my life.” 

Baker is applying the lessons he’s learned from Haggen and paying them forward. As a mentor for the Scholastic Rising Voices Library, a teaching artist for Scholastic’s Our Greatness is Our Story spoken word program, and a special advisor to the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, Baker is deeply committed to connecting with and educating the next generation. Along the way, he is inspiring the very people who have invested time into him. 

“I am very, very proud of Trey and as his mentor, I’m learning from him,” Haggen said. 

Trey Baker's first children's book, When I Look Up, is part of Scholastic's Rising Voices Library: Honoring the Richness of Black Stories Collection.

Finding Confidence Through Stories

Baker recently published his first children’s book, When I Look Up. The book uses poetry and the sky as a framework to help young readers think about identity, hope, and finding their way in the world. The inspiration for this story came from Baker’s own childhood questions about identity and a memory of his father telling him to “look up.” 

The book is part of Scholastic’s Rising Voices Library: Honoring the Richness of Black Stories Collection, which is built to highlight Black experiences and deepen critical thinking skills with books that all children can relate to and enjoy. 

“I believe the more children have access to stories…the greater their outlook and opportunities are,” Haggen said. 

For many students, seeing themselves in a book can build confidence. It can also show them that their communities, cultures, and stories matter. 

In When I Look Up, Baker writes about a child who looks toward the sky while thinking about life’s questions. The idea is simple, but powerful. Sometimes, looking up can help young people see new possibilities for themselves. 

Through poetry and spoken word performance, Baker helps students share their ideas and find their voices. Haggen said that writing can help students connect with one another. 

“What I’m seeing is students allowing themselves to build a community around writing and to create a culture of storytelling,” said Haggen. 

That message has helped guide Haggen and Baker’s relationship and their passion for sharing stories with young people. 

“Stories allow communities to dream a different dream…are there other ways we could be living with one another? Are there other ways we could be playing and laughing and singing and coexisting? Stories allow us to create bridges to those answers…and with one another,” Baker said. 

For Baker, mentorship has been one of those bridges. 

“It’s an honor to have him in my life and I always hope I’m making him proud,” Baker said.