Students, proud family members and colleagues crowded the Manhattan auditorium of the New York Institute of Technology on June 6 to honor 14 city teachers who won 2016 Blackboard Awards. Members of Mark Aschenbrand’s family remembered how much happier he was after leaving dentistry 15 years ago to become a science teacher at Robert F. Wagner MS in Manhattan. Dr. Aschenbrand spoke of his 24 years “making others smile” as a dentist and now “making myself smile.” Sterling Roberson, the UFT vice president for career and technical education high schools, presented awards to two of the seven city public school winners. Nekia Wise, a science teacher at PS 59, Manhattan, told how a stint as a tutor at age 16 changed her career goal from journalist to teacher. “And I haven’t wanted to do anything else since,” she said. Josh Behar, a humanities teacher at Booker T. Washington JHS on the Upper West Side, warned the audience, “If I start listing the reasons I became a teacher I could be up here all day.” Adam Grant Kelly, a 4th-grade teacher at Battery Park’s PS 276, taught in Uganda as a Peace Corps volunteer and brings “it takes a village” thinking to “my New York village.” But the highest accolades went to a student project that created and actually provided prosthetic hands for children. The project was led by a team of four teachers from the Convent of the Sacred Heart school in Manhattan. Other UFT members honored were Diana Lambert, a music teacher at MS 104 in Manhattan; Thomas Jones, an ELA teacher at the NYC iSchool; and Noah Gordon, a high school ELA teacher at the Special Music School on the Upper West Side. See the full list of honorees.