[inaudible conversations] good evening. On behalf of Bradley Graham and on behalf of the entire staff, welcome. Its a pleasure to have you here and a pleasure to be hosting nadia lopez here to discuss their book by bridge to brilliance. If you have any is nomaking device noise making devices take a moment to silence them. Nadia will discuss her book for 30 minutes and well take questions. We encourage questions of just other use this microphone here by the pillars so everyone can hear and for the cspan audience. After the question and answers its a great help if you fold up your chair and just place it against the bookshelf and come up and get your book signed and say hello and the becomes are for sale right where you walk in. Nadia lopez is the founding principle of mt. Haul bridges academy. She committed to creating a an environmenty students, staff, Work Together to create successfully engaged adults. The bridge to brilliance tells both her story and the schools, from nadias only middle school days where the kind in as staff help her to achieve. Please welcome nadia lopez. [applause] good evening, thank you so much for having me. Can everyone hear me in the back . So i guess shy start off by explaining why i wrote the book in the first place, and it really came down to, there was a narrative about the community that i served in brownsville, brooklyn. Im a brooklyn girl. Im nowed be a brooklyn girl. And i was born and raised in crown heights. Growing up i had to deal with gangs. Growing up i had to deal with the crack era. Growing up i had to deal with my parents separating. But i would was able to succeed and it was because my parents, prior to them separating, who come from got mole la and honduras guatemala and honduras, believed in the power of education and when they came to country they didnt come with way. They found each other on a dance floor in the bronx. And once i came to the world, my mother felt like the only thing that she could provide for me was a solid education. So in new york city, we are zoned by districts, and so my mom she was clever. The decide that the district we lived in wasnt going to provide me with the excellent education. That she felt was going to give me the pathway to success. So what she did was go to a neighbor, literally three blocks away and ask him if it was possible to get a rent receipt so that she can place me in School Across the street from his house. Because of my moms relentless pursuit in me getting into a really good elementary school, it got me into one of the top middle schools. Back then it was junior high schools. And it was for gifted and talented children. And it was right it was fairly nor the projects of fort green, and brooklyn tech, one of the specialized high schools, actually the hub of where one of the most know tierous gangs dime be, the deciptico noh. Any mom was not concerned about the violence. Set was concerned if would get a quality education. So every day i got on the train at the age of 11, and i made sure that i was able to learn, understand what i was learning because my mother made it clear when i got home she couldnt be able to help me. From there i ended up going to april of Randolph High School which is also a challenging neighborhood in harlem. But it had an excellent education, which led me to wagner college. And the reason why im taking you through that pathway is because i am the example of a child who comes from a community that was underserved whose parents not all were perfect. I will never forget my math teacher in 11th grade during trigonometry. Waffles not good at trigg. Told me i would not make it to college and called my mother and said to her, youre wasting your time saving your money. Because shell never make it. And i became angry. Because she never asked me what is going on at home . She never took time to tell me that everything would be okay. Instead, she placed me in a box, and almost made my feel like, because of math, i couldnt be anything successful. But it was the teacher, my u. S. History teacher, mr. Peerson, whose class i was also failing, who said to me, you seem to know a lot about u. S. History. Youre really got a talking politics. But you never do my work. What is going on . And it was in that moment i literally fell in his arms because someone finally cared. It wasnt the first time. In middle school i happened when my parents separated so i knew there were teach evers who cared. But in that instant, i realized had i listened to the math teacher, i could have went on to a bad trajectory in my life and never went to college. But mr. Peerson still held me accountable, even though i failed his class and had to good to summer school, i ended up at wagner college, getting a bs in nursing, which is not one of the easiest journeys to follow through. But i loved nursing before i became an educator. So, when i had my daughter, i was working for verizon, the phone company you. Might say how did she get from nursing to verizon, but like many kids you think you in the what you want to do and then realize thats not it. And verizon gave me an opportunity to really figure out what i wanted to do with my life, and essentially came by looking at my daughter and realizing that the most important thing that could ever give me purpose in life is being able to touch the lives of children. And i have to trust someone with my precious gift. Who is going to ensure that in our classrooms theres going to be that teacher who cares . Who is going to ask the that child if theyre okay and out of that i decided to become a teacher and enter the new york city teaching fellow. I ended up working for one of the most challenging schools in brooklyn. Where children were dealing with parents who were on crack. Parents who had abandoned them. Some of them being rape raised by their grandparents. Had to deal with administrators who did not believe in children. I had to deal with teachers who came just because they wanted a check and wanted summers off. But there was a covert of teachers who really cared, who showed up, who used money out of their pockets just to educate the poorest children of that neighborhood. So i was inspired by those teachers. And i was inspired by the children. Ill be honest, when i first went into hi first teachingter and generals i didnt understand the children because i came from a gifted and talented middle school so i felt like they should appreciate education. And they didnt. Because they were just trying to survive. All they wanted to do is know that someone cared about them. Many of them came to school just to eat. And just to get some type of shelter. From 8 00 to 3 00 p. M. So in my classroom, almost like walking into a theater. I was an actress. And every single day we performed a play. And those children were going receive love, but they also were expected to work. So if they didnt have materials, pens, pencils, bookbags, i purchased it. They used computers. They did research. And what was so amazing is one day that assistant principal ran due the hallway and entered the room and said, whats going on sneer because the kids were working together in groups to work on a project. They were learning about the declaration of independence and arguing the point of whether or not all are men created equal . And they were actually applying that to the notion of Hurricane Katrina and the state of new orleans. Are all men created equal . Lets look at how this community is similar to your community, based off of education, based off of the demographics. Lets talk about what could have been done to avoid this disaster from happening. This is a seventh graders doing this work. And she said to me, they cant understand this. And i looked at her and said, why dont you sit in the classroom and ask them. And from there, i realized that there are people in positions who are hired to empower and inspire our children, but sometimes theyretive heartened, they become jaded by the process. And cant see the brilliance in our children. So, i stayed in that school for three years and then i had the opportunity of becoming a founding teacher of an allgirl school. And i took that opportunity because, as much as i touched the lives of those children, i also needed an opportunity for myself to grow, and to get the experience of what its like to create a new school. Especially for young girls of color. In the area of science, technology, engineering and math. Which is often underrepresented by individuals of color. And it was a phenomenal experience. To build a culture. To develop a mission. And have a vision. To brand a school. To recruit teachers, because i was the first founding teacher. I think back to that moment and those girls gave me what i considered the greatest inspiration because i could see hope in their eyes. And so i was there for two years. And during that two years the two principals end up having their own children and left me in charge. Ironically, right . So, i was responsible for pta meeting, developing programs, talking to parents, recruiting new students, recruiting teachers. I almost became the face of the school. And so i knew how to run a school, i knew how to open a school, i knew how to be present, and it was as though i was being prepared for the next chapter in my life. So an organization by new leaders had the opportunity for aspiring principals to part of a cohort, and i took advantage of the opportunity. And i joined this National Organization and i became a resident principal in which i actually worked in a Charter School. And ill be very honest, i was so against this. Because i was proud product of Public Schools but i also needed to have insight. Because you cant criticize and judge something you have no idea what is going on, on the inside and you dont understand their vision and mission. And i will say this. I had a phenomenal mentor. I understood that they did an excellent job when it came to data. But for me what was the disconnect often time was the relationship that was built with parents, the relationship built with young men of color, and just being able to develop programs that were out of just academics, academics, academics filth lining the whole child was missing and my nursing background also made me along from the perspective of lets look at the whole person. Lets look beyond the diagnoses. Lets find ouch what is really going on. I took all of those experiences and i wrote my own proposal. And i found some of the best educators, partners who would come with me on this journey to open up this school, and bridges opened two years after i presented my proposal to the department of education. Prior to opening up the school i was an assistant principal in the same district i am in now. And what i realized is that community of brownsville was struggling, and that someone had allowed it to happen and it was very hard for me to understand how a community in new york city, one of the richest cities in the world, could have a community that was so poor. That lacked resources. That lacked hope. And every time i read the New York Times or i read the know, post or the wall street journal, it was always something negative that was being written. But its hard to find something positive when all you have is this narrative. When all you have are children who are failing. I was in a kindergarten to eighth grade school. I was assistant principal of the middle school. No one had ever spoken to those children about going to college or showing them what college looked like. That was hard for me to understand. When i asked the children, lets talk about going to college. Im not going to college. Why . Because we dont go to college around here. Youre going to go to college. Youre going to have the opportunity. And they go im not going to college. Im going to work around here. Im going to go to the school up the block. Thats what we do. So luckily there was a young man by the name of Marlin Peterson who its mentioned in the book as well. And marlin had served ten years in prison. He was with the wrong friends and made the wrong decision, and sew he had to serve ten years, and through his time incarcerated, while i was at the first school, i told him, i dont want your time there be to spent in vain. So i need you to communicate to my kids to explain to them why they should never end up in jail. Because your story is more powerful than me telling them they shouldnt go there. So literally marlin would write them letters and i would read the let letters and they would write him back and we createed a correspondens program. And that was back in 2003. When marlin came out in 2008 it was december. It was 2009. I told marlin he was expected to be at my school on the friday. And i assigned him 25 young man and he came every single week, and i will tell you this. We took 25 young people who vassar college. Girls and boys. Out of the 25 today, 24 are in college. That should tell you the power of changing the narrative, showing the lessons of someone can make a mistake but if you just place children in the places you see them, it can change their trajectory. And that was the first time those children had ever gone to a college. Because for many of them, their parents hadnt even graduated high school. So heres are the statistics of brownsville. 32 of the residents have a high school diploma. 14 have a bachelors. 3 have a masters. The average income median is 28,000 a year. Living in housing develops is 11,000 a year. We have the highest incident of hiv and aids, the highest incident of teenage pregnancies. The highest incidence of any type of health recollection. Hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and asthma. By those statistics you would say, why are you there . Why do you care . But the question goes back to, how does a Community End up this way . Why are the no resources to support these children . So when i opened up my school, and they told me it was going to be in brownsville, already knew the numbers. But i also remembered that those children who went to vassar college, who then promised my they would good to college, were an example of what was possible. And i remember how my mother fought for me, and so if these children didnt have a parent who was going to provide the same expectations, then i would have to become their parent. So the summer i had to open up my school, i had no kids on my roster. So could you imagine after i write a proposal, after im inspired, there are absolutely no kids on my roster. I have to now go out in the hottest summer and walk the streets of brownsville with cupcakes, standing on corners, begging people to sign up. I would go into the housing developments. I would go to the train stations. Would go to the libraries in search of kids. Were in new york city. Theres kids everywhere. But i really didnt have a name. Was an assistant principal put people didnt know me and they had to trust this young face. They had to trust that i wasnt a Charter School and i wasnt going to take over their resources. They had to trust i was going to do right by their children, even though for the longest time they werent being done right by many people. But because i was willing to hoe in places no one else would go, 24 parents trusted me and thats what we opened up the school with. At the end of the year we had 45 children. But the reputation had gone out that this principal is a little crazy, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to for these children. By the second year we had 124 kids. I was able to create programs for my scholars. She is me that is an Empowerment Program for my girls so they that know there are young women of color who are doing significant and outstanding things in their community. I wanted to take away the stigma that says that as women of color we argue and we fight and we tear each other down because thats what the media has imposed on everyone. I created i matter after the fact that we originally had my my brothers keeper prior to the president issue made add, but the reality is that no one would show up. And ill tell you the real truth behind it. I was asking men to be someone elses keeper. When no one ever showed up for them. And often times they felt like i was asking for a commitment. All they knew was abandonment. A lot of them, their fathers had been incarcerated, or left, or ended up murdered. So, they didnt understand that what i was asking was simply to be a positive influence to the next generation. Put what realized and recognized was, they were searching for someone to say that they mattered. And because no one kept reminding them, it just was easier for them to say, i dont feel like doing that. So i started thinking about my young men because there was a oneyearold that was murdered around the corner because his father was in gangs. Publish and so rival gang members came on his block and couldnt find him and started shooting up the area they live and actually hit his son. He was only one years old. So i sat with my team and i said i dont know how they know that they matter. Is it because they reach home every night . Because i woke up, do they know they matter . And word matter kept coming up. I said you know what we are going to do . Were goal to call it i matter because i need them to wake up every morning, even if society does not tell them because im going to say in this day and age, if we cant go to our churches, if we want go out and have good times with our family, if we cant travel to another country, and know that we matter, no one else can convince us unless we tell ourselves. So i need them to say it to themselves every single day. The minute we did that, literally we had 250 to 300 young men that participate in our program, every single year. And what we do is we create a space where they engage in dialogue, to talk about the concerns they have. To talk about the issues that law enforcement, because to me the most important thing for our children to do is to engage in dialogue and become advocates. I dont want them to think that those who are in positions of law and order are there to harm them. I want them to be part of the process itch want them to become politicians. I want them to become officers. I want them to be in the same spaces that often people are fearful of. So, we also have Esteem Program which is science, technology, engineering arts and math. The reason why i channeling i from stem to steam is children dont know how amazing art is. Its not just feathers and glue and glitter. Its about learning art history, about learning time periods and why this artist chose this medium and what culture and their location of where they alive, how that has influence on them. How beautiful is it for children to just enjoy learning. And to understand that they are creative beings. So our children learned coding, they learn drumming, they love videoingography, they create their own documentaries, they build their own web site. Theyre beekeepers and cultivate their own honey and sell it every one of the seventh graders has to go through an entrepreneurship program. I explained th