Born and raised in Philadelphia

@instagram-Born and raised in Philadelphia, Tamir Harper (Hive account@tamirdharper) is on a mission to transform education in his hometown. "I’m a product of the Philadelphia public school system," says 18-year-old Tamir. "l attended my sixth-grade year at one of the worst middle schools in the city. It really made me see the inequalities in education here. With that motivation, I decided that l was going to do something about it." Last year, Tamir co-founded the nonprofit UrbEd, which empowers students to speak up about education inequalities and offers solutions to address these issues.

”I have two amazing nephews who I refuse to allow to go through the same system," says Tamir. ”I refuse to make them have to travel outside their ZIP code just to receive a quality and efficient urban education."

Next fall, Tamir heads to American University as a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar to study education. "I have the goal of coming back to teach education in Philadelphia public schools, hopefully seventh or eighth grade English or history," he says.

Today, he's at #CollegeSigningDay in Philadelphia. He's excited to hear former First

Lady Michelle Obama (Hive account@michelleobama)

speak. "She's a first-generation college student like myself, so I'm looking forward to hearing her words of encouragement," says Tamir. "And I'm pretty sure she'll be speaking truth to power.” Tune in to our lnstagram story to learn more about Tamir and see what College Signing Day is all about. #BetterMakeRoom