7 BRONX WEEKLY June 28, 2020 www.BXTimes.com
Amazon recognizes Bronx educator
Company names Bronx Academy of Letters educator as teacher of the year
BY ALEX MITCHELL
One high school math, computer
science and world language
teacher has gone above
and beyond for his students at
Bronx Academy of Letters —
now he’s being recognized for
it.
Mohammad Ahmad, an educator
in his fourth year was
named a 2020 Amazon Future
Engineer Teacher of the Year
Award recipient, winning a
prize package valued at more
than $50,000 for his Mott Haven
school as well.
That academy will now be
gifted $25,000, with an additional
$25,000 in school supplies,
including Amazon Fire
HD 8 Tablets, classroom essentials
from AmazonBasics and
additional items from Amazon
Essentials.
Ahmad also received one
full year of Amazon Music Unlimited
and a 12-month Audible.
com Gold Gift Membership
as part of his prize.
The surprise announcement
came while he was on a staff
video call and his reaction to
the wonderful news was heartwarming.
“I’m not often without
words, and I was speechless at
fi nding out I’d been selected as
one of the Amazon Future Engineer
Teachers of the Year,”
Ahmad said, adding that “this
award will go a long way in expanding
our students’ access to
technology, computer science
education, and potential postsecondary
career pathways.”
Bronx Academy of Letters
Principal, Erin Garry also took
to thanking Ahmad for simply
being himself, saying “thank
you for always advocating for
our kids and for always getting
to know the whole kid and
not just a small piece of them.
Thank you from the bottom of
my heart for everything you’ve
done for our students, our communities,
your colleagues and
for me.”
Garry’s team at the Bronx
Academy of Letters work to provide
a safe space for students to
focus on their education, have
experiences to expand their
interests and opportunities to
self-advocate through activism,
and to broaden the scope of potential
career options available
to them after high school.
During his teaching career,
Ahmad has been teaching algebra
2, pre-calculus, psychology,
Arabic, intro to computer science
and AP computer science
principles.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
projects that this year,
there are 1.4 million computerscience
related jobs available
and only 400,000 computer science
graduates with the skills
to apply for those jobs.
“He is helping prepare
Bronx youth for the jobs of the
future by making sure they
have access to a high-quality
computer science education,”
Bronx Borough President Ruben
Diaz, Jr. said on behalf of
the award winning teacher.
Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson also commended Ahmad’s
outstanding achievement
in the classroom as
well.
“This is an incredible opportunity
for Mohammad and
for his students. Through his
leadership, he is providing our
youth with the necessary skills
that will prepare them to become
future leaders,” she said.
Mohammad Ahmad Photo courtesy of Bronx Academy of Letters
BY JASON COHEN
She grew up in the south Bronx,
where she witnessed death and
people engaging in prostitution
and spent fi ve years homeless as
a teen. Today, Michelle Rodriguez
has a master’s degree and works for
BronxWorks.
Rodriguez, 39, of Mott Haven,
did not live a privileged life, but she
overcame a lot and has never given
up.
“When I was a kid I never thought
I would reach the age of 21,” Rodriguez
said.
Her parents divorced when she
was 3 and her father was a distant
memory most of her life. She did not
come from a close-knit family and
like many in the Bronx in the late
80s and early 90s, crack and cocaine
were a huge part of life.
She never did drugs but many
people around her did, including
her mom, Sandra. Sandra chose
drugs over her daughter and kicked
her out of their home at 13.
“At that time I couldn’t understand
why my mother would do
that to her only daughter,” she said.
“Maybe she just didn’t like me.”
She was left crying in the streets
with her stuff when her neighbor,
who heard the whole exchange, ran
and took her in. Rodriguez stayed
with her for two years and while
there, was a live-in babysitter making
$40 a week.
But not wanting to impose on the
woman and her child, she was often
outside seeing things no other kid
should witness.
She continued to move. She
roomed with a friend for a while, reconnected
with her dad and stayed
with him in Philadelphia for a year
and then went to Yonkers with her
older brother.
She recalled that all of this was
emotionally draining.
“I wrote a lot,” she recalled. “I
had journals. I truly was angry and
upset. I was a child, I couldn’t process
what was happening.
At 19, she had her fi rst child, a
daughter, Shanya. Needing to provide,
she signed up for Job Corps
and was set to move to Maine. But
during that time she started a relationship
and had her second daughter,
Nyna Rattray, a year later.
After having two children she realized
she wanted to make amends
with her mom. She reached out and
her recollection of what occurred
was very different than her mother’s.
Her mom never apologized but
Rodriguez forgave her.
“It was very diffi cult at fi rst to
talk to her,” she explained. “I realized
the way I was treated was still
giving me nightmares. Once you become
a parent you view things differently.
I do not hold this against
my mom. At the time, parents do
what they can.”
She lived in Philadelphia from
2002 to 2008. Rodriguez loved her
time in the City of Brotherly Love.
While there, she obtained her GED
diploma, her certifi ed nursing assistant
degree, learned how to do hair
and studied computer business.
She returned to New York in
2009 and struggled to fi nd a career
or good job. At one point, she lived in
a shelter with her family but eventually
things got on the right track.
In 2016, she enrolled at Metropolitan
Michelle Rodriguez with her daughters Shanya (left) and Nyna (right)
Courtesy of Michelle Rodriguez
College of New York, where
she became the fi rst person in her
family to go to college and made the
dean’s list fi ve times.
She graduated in 2019 with a
Bachelor’s of Professional Studies in
Human Services and completed her
master’s in Public Administration
in May.
“I’m still in shock,” Rodriguez
said. “From the day that I gave birth
to my fi rst child I wanted to go to college.
My goal was to be a role model
to my children.”
Things really came full circle
when she landed a job with nonprofi t
BronxWorks as a care manager for
the Care Coordination Program. She
was now in a position to help people
like herself.
Rodriguez, has only been there a
year but has aspirations of one day
being an assistant director.
“I always knew one day I’m going
to work for them,” Rodriguez exclaimed.
“I’m humbled by it. I’m also
driven by it. To tell the truth, I’m always
in shock. I’m always in awe.”
From homeless to a masters
Mott Haven resident shares journey that led her BronxWorks
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