feature stories

Honorees make ‘miracles happen every day’

by Jim Callaghan

Mar 4, 2010 3:26 PM

Twenty-eight Career and Technical Education teachers — chosen by their peers — were honored Feb. 11 at the UFT’s 2010 Awards Recognition Ceremony at UFT headquarters in Manhattan.

The teachers, most of them introduced by their appreciative students, might never think of themselves as — in the words of one student — “super special,” but it was clear to the audience that the term fit nicely to describe the important work going on in the city’s CTE classrooms, even as the Department of Education proposes to close some of the schools where students are living their dreams.

All night, students delivered their impromptu lines about their outstanding teachers with laughter, and sometimes tears. But they always did so with a profound appreciation of how these teachers changed their lives by encouraging them to feel good about themselves while teaching them the important subjects they need to succeed on their way to college and to deal with the travails of life.

UFT Vice President of Career and Technical Education High Schools Sterling Roberson understood the feelings behind every vignette. As a graduate of the Success Via Apprenticeship program himself, Roberson praised the teachers and students by saying, “You do fantastic work.”

CTE schools, Roberson said, provide students with “opportunity. That provides them with access to higher education, entry into the work force, post-secondary training via internships, etcetera. Students become employable with a middle-class lifestyle, they become tax-paying citizens and ultimately help stabilize our nation’s economy.”

Referring to the movie “Miracle on 34th Street,” Roberson said that all CTE schools “are where miracles happen every day,” adding that UFT members are teaching the “next generation of electricians, carpenters and mechanics.” He also thanked the union’s partners in labor, business and industry for helping make CTE a major academic success story.

City Comptroller John Liu remembered his days as a student and praised his public school teachers.

“I would not be here today if it weren’t for them,” Liu said. Recalling his City Council career, he said, “If you don’t stay on top of the Department of Education, they will run circles around you.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew, the union’s former vice president of CTE high schools, said, “I miss CTE,” adding that “it is a special community” and “CTE gets things done.”

There were too many accolades to list, but Denise Santiago of GED Plus HS probably summed up the feelings of both teachers and their students by saying she felt “privileged” to teach her class.

“It’s such a pleasure to get paid for what we do,” she said. “I have the same passion now as I did when I started my second career [as a teacher] 22 years ago.”

She said she treated her students “like my own children” and closed with a statement that students hear countless times a year from their teachers: “I am just a phone call away.”

The winners are...
Recipient	School	Recipient	School
Charles Mandracchia	MS 326, Manhattan	Henry Penna	William Grady HS
Leonard Bradley	Automotive HS	Damaris Mercado	Jane Addams HS
Brendan Malone	NY Harbor School	Elizabeth Torres	HS of Graphic
Paul Munsinger	Christopher Columbus HS	Communication Arts
Said Youssef	HS Construction Trades	Lisa Barnett	HS Fashion Industries
Mitchell Dickman	Grace Dodge CTE HS	Ana Anaya	HS of Coop Tech
Tamarah President	Samuel Gompers HS	Kyle Allen	HS Innovation in
Michael Schnier	Thomas A. Edison HS	Advertising/Media
Denise SantiagoShakeema	GED Plus	Gary McNeal	George Westinghouse HS
Stevenson-John	W.H. Maxwell HS	John M. Schoenhardt	Aviation HS
Courtney Burris	Clara Barton HS	Ariel DeLa Cuesta	Transit Tech HS
Sharon Oliver	Clara Barton HS	Nicholas Mendez	Queens Vocational HS
Eva Schwarcz-Gangel	F.H. LaGuardia HS	Rory Schwartz	Edward R. Murrow HS
Grant Springer	Food & Finance HS	Paul Chinelli	HS of Art & Design
Anthony Pigis	Ralph McKee HS	James Caracciolo	Norman Thomas HS