Tells her story to middle school days with kindness of teachers and staff helped succeed in difficult times to later efforts to build an environment. So please welcome nadia lopez. [applause] good evening, thank you so much for having me. Can everyone hear me in the back . But i was able to succeed. And it was really because my parents, prior to them separating, who come from guatemala and honduras, believed in the power of education, and when they came to this country they didnt come with way. Wealth they found each other on the dance floor in the bronx. Once i came into the world my mother felt like the only thing she could provide me was a solid education. So in new york city we are zoned by stricts, and so my mom she was clever shed 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 he 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 could place me in the school right 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 school. And it was gifted and talented children. And it was right it was fairly near the projects of fort green, and brooklyn tech, one over the specialized high schools, the hub of where one of the most notorious gangs came to be, the my mom wasnt concern about the violence. The only thing she was concerned about was i would get a quality education. So every day i got on the train at the aim of 11 and i made sure 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 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 rope im taking you through that pathway is because i am the example of a called oh comes from a community that was underserved, whose parents are immigrants, but education was my solid foundation. And i had excellent teachers. Not all were perfect. I will never forget my math teacher in 1st grade during trying knockty i was not good at trug told me i would not make it to college and called me mother and said, youre wasting your time. Save 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 me 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 at 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 it happened when my parents separated so i knew there were teachers who cared, but in that instance 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 conclude. Butre pierce still held me accountable, even though i failed his class and had to go 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 came an educator. So, when i had my daughter, i was working for verizon, the phone company. You might say did you get from nursing to verizon but like many kids you think you know 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 im going to 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 that child if theyre okay . And out of that, i decided i was going to become a teacher and entered the new york city teacher 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 raised by their grandparents. I had to deal with administrators who did not truly believe in children. I had to deal with teachers who came just because the wanted to check and wanted summers off. But there was a cohort 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 hospital, when i first went into my first teaching experience, i didnt understand those children because i came from a gifted and Talent Middle School so i fell 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. Was an actress. And everything single day we performed a play. And those children were going to receive love, but they also were expected to work. So if they didnt have materials, pens, pencils can book bags, i purchased it. They used computers. They did research. And what was so amazing is one day assistant principal ran down the hallway and entered the room and said, thats going on here . 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 whether or not are all men created equal and apply that to notion of hurricane katrina, and the state of new orleans. Are all men created equal . Let lack 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 was seventh graders doing this work. And she said to me, they cant understand this. And i looked at her and said, well, 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 theyre disheart ended. 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 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, and 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 consider 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 ended up having their own children, and so they left me in charge. Ironically, right . So i was responsible for pta meetings, 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. Knew how to open a school. I knew how to be present, and it was as though i was being pepperdine for the next chapter in hi life. So an organization by new leaders had the opportunity for aspiring principals to come become 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 it. Because i am 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 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 a diseight disconnect was often times the relationship built with parents, the relationship built with young men of color, and just being able to develop programs that was out of just academics, academics, academics. Felt like the whole child was missing, and my nursing background made me look from the perspective of, lets look at the whole person. Let look beyond the diagnosis. Lets find out what is really going on. I took all of this 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, bridges opened two years after i presented my proposal to department of education. Prior to opening the school, though, i was an assistant principal in the statement district i am now, and what i realized is that the community of brownsville was struggling, and that someone had allowed it to help 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 the New York Post or read the wall street journal, there was always something negative 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. Because when i would ask the children, lets talk about college, im not going to college. Why arent you going to college . Because we dont go to college around here. Youre going to go to college. Youre going to have the opportunity. Monday lopez im not going to college. 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 is actually mentioned the book as well, and marlin had serve ten years in prison. He was with the wrong friends and had made the wrong decision and 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 to be 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 letters and they would write him back and we created a correspondents program. That was back in 2003. When marlin came out in 2008, december, it was 2009. I told marlin he was expected to be at my school on the friday. And i assigned him 25 young men, and he came every single week. And i will tell you this. We took 25 young people to vassar college. Girls and boys. Out of the 25 today, 24 are in college. That to tell you the power of changing the narrative, showing the lessons of someone can make a mistake, about if you just place children in 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 had not even graduated high school. So heres the statistics of brownsville. Starting two percent of the residents have a high school diploma. 14 have a bachelors. Three have a masters. The average income median is 28,000 a year. Living in Housing Developments is 11,000 a year. We have the highest incidence of hiv and aids and teenage pregnancies, the highest incident of any type of health risk. 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 there 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 me they were going to go to college, were an example of what was possible. And i remember how my mother fought for me. And so 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 that i had to open up my school, i had no kids on my roster. So could you imagine after i write a proposal, 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 station, to the library, in search of kids. Were in new york city. Theres kids everywhere. But i really didnt have a name. Was an assistant program but people didnt know me and 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 that i was going to do right by their children. Even though for the longest while they werent being done right by many people. But because i was willing to show up 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 for these children. By the second er we had 124 second year we had 124 kids itch was able to create programs for my scholars. She is me, is an Empowerment Program for my girls so they know that there are young women of color who are doing significant and outstanding things in their community. Wanted to take away the stigma that says that as women of color we argue and we fight and we tear each other down abuse thats what the media has imposed on everyone. I created i matter, after the fact that we originally had my brothers keeper, prior to the president , may 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. The, their fathers had been incars rated, or incarcerated or less or ended up murdered. So, they didnt understand that what i was asking was simply to be a positive influence to the next generation. But what i 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. And some rival gang members came on his block and couldnt find him and they started shooting up the area they live in and actually hit his son. He was only one years old. So i sat with my team and i said, dont know how they know if they matter. Is it because they reach home every night . Because the woke up . Do they know they matter, and the word matter kept coming up. I said were going to call it i matter pow because i need them to affirm to themselves thaw matter. And wake up every morning, even i society does not tell them, because im going to say in this day and age, if we cant go to churches and have good times with our families, 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 eave single day. The minute we did that, literally we had 250 to 300 young men that participate in our program, every single year. What we do is we create a space where they engage in dialogue, talk about the concerns they have. To talk about the issues that law enforcement. Because to me the most important thing for our union the do is to engage 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. Want them to become politicians. I want them to become ofs. Want them to be in the same spaces that often people are fearful of. So, we also have a program which is science, technology, engineering, arts and math, the rope who i i changed it from stem to steam is because 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 have, how that has influence on them. How beautiful for children to just enjoy learning. And to understand that they are creative beings. So our children learn coding, they learned drumming, they learned videography, they create their own documentaries. They build their open web site. Theyre beekeepers and cultivate their own happy and sell it. Every one of my students have to go through an entrepreneur program. I explained to you the average income its 27,000, 28,000. Correction. And if you live in the projects its 11,000. I need them to know that they can make money. We live in a capitalistic society. Why not teach them . To have a great idea. To develop a product. Pitch it. And so they all go through this program, and they have to pitch their idea, and its like shark tank. And at the end they get a monetary prize, and then they get to compete in a citywide program. That is me preparing my scholars for the future. That me believing in them. I dont want my children to be, quoteunquote, saved. Want them to have access. I want them to have equity. But i spoke a lot about the scholarships and didnt really touch on the teachers. I have an Amazing Group of teachers who work for me. They dont all make it. When i say they dont all make it, im a tough cookie. If you heft noticed yet. I have very high expectations. I outwork everybody. I work hard, though, because i remember those who worked hard for me and i remember everything single night i expect someone to work just as hard for my daughter. So when my teachers feel like they cant push another day, i will sit there with them. I plan lessons. I teach classes. Im in classrooms eave single day. Because i want them to know that im not here to evaluate you without knowing through evidence what your areas of support are. If this is not the right space, we have those