Lowell’s African-American community was very much interested in education and saw it as a way to overcome racial stereotyping and discrimination. Lowell High School was the first integrated high school in the nation with Caroline Van Vronker being admitted in 1834. Lowell’s school system also allowed for Black teachers like Theresa Lew, who taught at the Bartlett School for many years and had been the Salutatorian of her class in 1912. Young graduates like Deighton Douglin or Alma Pierce were fully integrated into the school system and both served as prestigious Boy and Girl Officers.