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Awards & Honors

Academic High Schools Awards Celebration

Honoring ‘commitment, passion, resilience’
New York Teacher
Group takes selfie
Erica Berger

Posing with Family Child Care Providers Chapter Chair Tammie Miller (second from left) are Community Champion Award winners (from left) Luvenia Graham, Shante Parrish, Marvina Pinckney, Nathaly Minaya, Immaculate M. Scott, Ana Cruz and Vice Chair Melissa Reed.

Heroes, change agents, fierce organizers, advocates, motivators, troubleshooters, trusted advisers and leaders. These are some of the words used to describe the 16 UFT members and five schools honored at the UFT’s 2022 Academic High Schools Awards Celebration.

“You all are rock stars and I know you don’t do it for the accolades,” UFT Vice President for High Schools Janella Hinds told the honorees gathered in Shanker Hall at UFT headquarters in Manhattan on April 8. “I know that you do this work for your young people, for your school communities.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew commended the honorees for their commitment, passion for their craft and resilience in the face of COVID-19 challenges.

“We kept doing our jobs, no matter what was thrown at us,” he said. “But every single person in this room is a hero to the City of New York, and I thank you,”

Michael Hubbs, a global history teacher at New Dorp HS on Staten Island, was one of seven educators to receive an Excellence in Education award. He said the award was special because a former student who is now his co-teacher nominated him.

Many students go to Hubbs for advice, post-secondary planning, perspective and friendly chats, Hinds said. “His students really, really love him,” she said. “He goes out of his way to coordinate student activities like an in-house carnival, gingerbread-house competition and multiple fundraisers for several causes.”

At Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education HS on Staten Island, fourth-year special education teacher Alyssa Morganti was nominated for an Excellence in Education award because she is always willing to help colleagues and students, said teacher David Sarno, the school’s student activities coordinator. She started the Newspaper Club and is the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society adviser.

Beyond that, Sarno said, Morganti facilitates lab classrooms for educators to share best practices and learn from one another. “We don’t have a Teacher Center in our school. Alyssa’s room is our Teacher Center,” he said.

Academic High Schools Awards Celebration Honoring Commitment
Erica Berger

Muneerah Young (second from left), a teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem, celebrates her Outstanding Union Activist award with family and friends.

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A man poses at the stage with his wife and children

Excellence in Education award winner Michael Hubbs, a global studies teacher at New Dorp HS on Staten Island, poses with his family at the Academic High Schools Awards Celebration on April 8.

Erica Berger
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Four women pose for a photo at a table
Muneerah Young (second from left), a teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem, celebrates her Outstanding Union Activist award with family and friends.
Erica Berger
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A woman on the left helps the woman on the right fix something on her shirt. Both are smiling for the camera.

Jennifer Arroyo (right), a Community Champion honoree who teaches at Susan E. Wagner HS on Staten Island, gets some help with her boutonniere from Carol Astencio, a paraprofessional at the school.

Erica Berger
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A group of people pose for a selfie on the staircase

Janella Hinds, the UFT’s vice president for academic high schools, takes a selfie with honorees and President Michael Mulgrew.

Erica Berger
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A group of members are honored on the stage and waving to the crowd.

UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds (far left) celebrates with Outstanding Union Activist award winners (from left) Marrisa Garcia, New Utrecht HS in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; Muneerah Young, Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem; Donna Orr-Morrow, Bronx Aerospace HS in the Williamsbridge section; and Melissa Alvarez, John Bowne HS in Flushing, Queens.

Erica Berger
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A group of honorees pose for a photo

CELEBRATING OUR HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATORS: UFT Vice President Janella Hinds (right) celebrates with four of the educators who received Excellence in Education Awards at the Academic High Schools Awards Celebration 2022, on April 8, at UFT headquarters. (Erica Berger)

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A group of members on the stage hold a banner gifted to them

Educators from Rockaway Park HS for Environmental Sustainability in Queens hold a banner they received as a Team High School honoree with help from Janella Hinds (far right), the UFT vice president for academic high schools.

Erica Berger
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A group of members hold up their awards as they are honored on the stage

Posing with their plaques and UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds (right) are Community Champion honorees (from left) Greg Gherkens, John Adams HS in Ozone Park, Queens; Anthony Taylor, HS for Public Service: Heroes of Tomorrow in Brooklyn; Kevin Brooks, Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters; and Jennifer Arroyo, Susan E. Wagner HS on Staten Island.

Erica Berger
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Image
A man poses at the stage with his wife and children

Excellence in Education award winner Michael Hubbs, a global studies teacher at New Dorp HS on Staten Island, poses with his family at the Academic High Schools Awards Celebration on April 8.

Erica Berger
Image
Four women pose for a photo at a table
Muneerah Young (second from left), a teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem, celebrates her Outstanding Union Activist award with family and friends.
Erica Berger
Image
A woman on the left helps the woman on the right fix something on her shirt. Both are smiling for the camera.

Jennifer Arroyo (right), a Community Champion honoree who teaches at Susan E. Wagner HS on Staten Island, gets some help with her boutonniere from Carol Astencio, a paraprofessional at the school.

Erica Berger
Image
A group of people pose for a selfie on the staircase

Janella Hinds, the UFT’s vice president for academic high schools, takes a selfie with honorees and President Michael Mulgrew.

Erica Berger
Image
A group of members are honored on the stage and waving to the crowd.

UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds (far left) celebrates with Outstanding Union Activist award winners (from left) Marrisa Garcia, New Utrecht HS in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; Muneerah Young, Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem; Donna Orr-Morrow, Bronx Aerospace HS in the Williamsbridge section; and Melissa Alvarez, John Bowne HS in Flushing, Queens.

Erica Berger
Image
A group of honorees pose for a photo

CELEBRATING OUR HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATORS: UFT Vice President Janella Hinds (right) celebrates with four of the educators who received Excellence in Education Awards at the Academic High Schools Awards Celebration 2022, on April 8, at UFT headquarters. (Erica Berger)

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A group of members on the stage hold a banner gifted to them

Educators from Rockaway Park HS for Environmental Sustainability in Queens hold a banner they received as a Team High School honoree with help from Janella Hinds (far right), the UFT vice president for academic high schools.

Erica Berger
Image
A group of members hold up their awards as they are honored on the stage

Posing with their plaques and UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds (right) are Community Champion honorees (from left) Greg Gherkens, John Adams HS in Ozone Park, Queens; Anthony Taylor, HS for Public Service: Heroes of Tomorrow in Brooklyn; Kevin Brooks, Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters; and Jennifer Arroyo, Susan E. Wagner HS on Staten Island.

Erica Berger