Q&A
What experiences at college informed where you are today?
My college experience was an entire resistance to white supremacy and colonial education. I’ve spent my years in college viewing the world through the lens of a window, and not a mirror. It wasn’t until I came across the work of James Baldwin, Michael Eric Dyson, Imani Perry, Bell Hooks, Julia Alvarez, Anais Nin, Trisha Moquino and others that my humanity was restored and I learned how to love myself from an ancestral perspective.
Anais Nin said, “Had I not created my own world I would have certainly died in other people’s” and Baldwin writes, “Anyone who struggles with poverty knows how expensive it is to be poor”. Critical literature like this, and quotes by these prominent authors, give me a world of possibilities, resistance, and a deep desire to work towards evicting white supremacy by any and all means. Throughout my college experience I engaged in a deep critical analysis of the world. Through truth telling and activism, I came to believe that organized people will always defeat organized power.
Was applying to TFA an easy or difficult decision? What were some factors you were weighing?
Applying to TFA was not a difficult decision since I wanted to teach, but I wrestled within my consciousness and heart the possibility that it may take me away from my community. With good faith, the ancestors answered my call, and I was given the opportunity to complete my corps years in my community in the Bronx, NY.
Describe your first day of teaching. What emotions were you feeling? What struggles did you have to overcome that first day/first year
During my first day of teaching I felt my vulnerability deepen in such a healing way. In the presence of children my childhood was awakened within my consciousness, and all of sudden, all I wanted to do from then on out was to construct myself. Young people have continuously guided me to be whole. I am, and will continue to be, free in their presence. It is why I take teaching and learning with deadly seriousness. For that reason I teach in protest to any and every challenge that harms the spirit of young people. I teach to dismantle the ritualized humiliation of Black, Brown and Indigenous children.
What achievements in education are you most proud of?
Three achievements I am significantly proud of are being honored by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics under the Obama Administration; being appointed to the Community Education Council in District 9 by the Bronx Borough President, the Hon. Ruben Diaz Jr.; and receiving the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from John Jay College of Criminal Justice for my pedagogical framework Do The Right Thing Pedagogy.
What have you been up to since the end of your corps commitment?
In the fall of 2019 I will transition from teaching at South Bronx Community Charter High School to teaching primary education directly in the neighborhood that raised me. SUNY Charter School Institute recently approved my school on October 4th, 2018. Wildflower New York Charter School will offer community-facing, neighborhood-nested, and teacher-led Montessori educational environments. Montessori educational environments.
It is empowering to know that I don’t have to leave the classroom in order to become a school administrator/principal. In this framework our teachers are school leaders and are granted with the full capacity to oversee a one-room neighborhood nested Montessori school with 14-24 children.
Have you been able to utilize the TFA network after the corps? If so, how has it come into play?
The TFA Collective and other initiatives that center Black, Brown and Indigenous voices have been instrumental in my development as an educator to bring justice to my community. Leadership for Educational Equity is another network of amazing leaders that are willing to work on policy shift and elected leadership. I’ve worked alongside LEE on issues related to the school-to-deportation-prison-pipeline.