my personal influences in 500 words, exactly.

If there is one thing I have learned in my thirty four years, it is that life is not static; it will go on changing without or without your consent.  The two times in my life I have assumed the role of cancer patient, have made me appreciative of the fragility of life and helped me recognize the extensive impact I can have to enact the change I want to see, both personally and professionally.   

One such endeavor was my decision to volunteer to tutor inmates at an all-male maximum security prison through a privately funded program out of Bard College.  The impetus behind this decision was a direct result of years of watching my parents help those less fortunate than our family, combined with my desire to define who I was as both an educator and citizen.  I began volunteering in 2004 as a writing tutor to inmates working on their Associate Degrees and clearly remember my fear as I was first bustled through the metal detectors, led through guarded steel doors, and escorted through the prison to the section designated for classes.  This experience had a monumental impact on me.  As I continue my career, I now recognize that my power as an advocate lies not only in my ability to act on behalf of my students, but even more so in my giving them the tools they need to act on their own behalf.  I also learned that if I challenge myself professionally to go above and beyond what I think I am capable of, the rewards to both my personal growth and my practice will be tenfold. 

This commitment to educational equity also informed my decision when applying to schools as a new teacher.  The Newburgh Enlarged City School District is an urban district and the city in which it resides is cited as one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the country.  The community has a high poverty level, an increasing juvenile incarceration rate, entrenched drug and gang issues, a significant population of Limited English Proficient Learners and an extremely low tax base upon which to support its schools.  These issues manifest themselves on a daily basis through high truancy rates, suspension rates, dropout rates, teenage pregnancies and low academic performance.  Despite this, Newburgh Free Academy was my first choice when applying for teaching jobs.  I wanted to practice in a setting where I felt I might have a dramatic impact on the lives of students and, like my experiences with the inmates, where I was in a position to learn from those whom I was teaching.

This learning stance has driven my work ever since.  I do not pretend to have all the answers, but readily jump at the opportunity to learn from and with others.  Every chance I get, I collaborate with colleagues, both in my district and outside of it, and it is my hope that the opportunity to engage in cross cultural dialogue will only strengthen this ambition.