This article explores how TCTELA's 2024 Teachers of the Year forged the future through their literacy teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college levels. Each essay captures how they understand their work as literacy educators and intentionally educate their students toward a brighter future amid trying local contexts. The first essay details how an elementary teacher threads the needle of maintaining high expectations that surpass academic success in the classroom to include holistic development as people and citizens in their future communities. The second essay describes how a middle-school reading community is crafted around a focus on representation and diverse texts. The third essay examines the use of the workshop model and the incorporation of choice and how those practices foster autonomous, innovative, and emboldened citizens. The final essay explores the power and hope of cariño for preservice and in-service teachers. Often translated as "care," the Spanish word "cariño" refers to a rich wisdom and practices of Latina teachers to care for and teach their students who live in between cultures, languages, and identities. Each essay aims not only to outline steps each teacher takes to pursue excellence in their teaching but also to offer a humanizing look into the heart it takes to teach day in and day out.