St. Claire Adriaan was born, raised and educated in Apartheid South Africa. Very early in his life, he learned that education was his only weapon against Apartheid. Motivated by my parents, community and teachers, he did everything in my power to go to college and focused on being a lifelong learner.. He strongly believes that it is not where you come from that determines your destiny but hard work, the will to succeed and adults that believe in you. St. Claire Adriaan is a lifelong educator and believes in educating the whole child, narrowing the achievement, opportunity and technological gap within a school where students are happy, inspired, empowered and have a voice, while taking ownership of their learning. St.Claire was also the Co-Founder and principal of Success Preparatory Academy in New Orleans post Katrina, and is currently the founding principal of Academy of the City Charter School in Queens, New York. St. Claire holds degrees from Nelson Mandela University and Rhodes University in South Africa, and also a M.S. Restorative Practices from the IIRP Graduate School.