Bachelor Nation fans saw former Bachelorette Michelle Young and her fiancé Nayte Olukoya make history with their engagement on Season 18 of “The Bachelorette.”

And now, the couple sat down for an exclusive conversation with BachelorNation.com about Black History Month and the importance of having conversations about Black history year-round, not just in February.

Michelle shared that this is particularly important in her fifth-grade classroom.

The former Bachelorette said, “I do think there are a lot of really powerful things that come from Black History Month. Being able to emphasize some of the amazing actions and energy that has been put in by so many different figures is important. But I also think it’s incredibly important to make it known that it’s not just one month. This is the work that needs to be done in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, all the way through.”

Michelle continued, “Black History Month is a month that has been used to emphasize all these different figures, but with teaching, it’s not just February when we’re going to read all of these books that have this representation. No, those are things that we can learn about throughout the entire school year, and those are conversations that I want to be exposing to my students from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year.”

And there are some specific ways Michelle has these conversations with her students.

She shared that in her classroom, they use a practice called “restorative circles,” where the students have guidelines so the conversations stay respectful.

One major way Michelle likes to keep these important conversations going year-round is through reading.

She shared, “One of the biggest ways that I like bringing important conversations to the classroom is by being able to read different types of books. Having my students be able to open a chapter book, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, and be able to read about somebody like them, that’s representation. And it’s important to have multiple options of books, not just one. So literacy has been a big way to keep those conversations happening all year long, not just for one month.”