Sonia Dunkley has been a paraprofessional at PS 9 in the Fordham section of the Bronx for 24 years. She loves her job so much that over the years she has told each of her four adult children some version of this: “Try what I’m doing and see if you like it.”

It’s advice they have taken to heart. That’s why today Dunkley is the matriarch of a family of paraprofessionals — a son and daughter also work as paras at PS 9, and two other daughters are paras at other Bronx schools. (Her youngest son is in high school in Rockland County.)

“When I was younger, I went to work with her on Take Your Daughter to Work Day,” says daughter Unique Nwahiri, 25, who’s been a para at PS 9 for six years. It didn’t take much convincing after that.

Unique Nwahiri says she loves working with young children, and the role a para can play in their lives. “You just give kids so much hope — you can change the mind of a child who doesn’t like school,” she says.

“I actually wanted to be a teacher and this is a really good start,” says Unique, who plans to attend Bronx Community College in the spring to begin working toward an education degree.

Dunkley’s son, Evly Davis, 19, started as a para at PS 9 last year. He said the experience has helped broaden his ideas about what’s possible. He plans to major in business at Bronx Community College in the spring and is hoping to combine business and teaching. “I can see myself as a math teacher,” says Evly.

Sonia’s two oldest daughters also have embraced the paraprofessional life.

“My mother has always inspired me,” says Lakasha Dunkley, 29, a para at PS 352, a District 75 school in Hunts Point. She’s in the process of transferring from Hostos Community College to Lehman College — where she’ll focus on special education.

In her four years as a para, she’s seen her students come a long way. “They are eager to learn, and it’s amazing to see how they’ve grown,” Lakasha says.

Lorraine Dunkley, 27, is a para with the LYFE (Living for the Young Family through Education) program at Jane Addams HS for Academic Careers in the South Bronx. The program provides child care for teen parents enrolled in school and helps them learn parenting skills as well.

“I bond with the kids and the parents, many of whom are my age,” Lorraine says. “You have to have lots of patience, and it has to be something you love. It’s not just a job.” She recently enrolled in Bronx Community College. “My mother inspired us all.”

But it’s clear that Sonia Dunkley has inspired more than just her family.

In William Gentzch’s 4th-grade integrated co-teaching class, Dunkley moves quietly between the students’ workstations as they attempt to analyze a story. One minute she’s leaning over a desk to assist a student; the next, she’s sitting on a crate to aid a group gathered on the floor. She’s soft-spoken but firm as she helps the 27 students keep up with the lesson.

Dunkley remembers how a child once threatened to run to the roof. “I told him, ‘OK, let’s run to the roof, just you and me.’ He calmed down after that,” she says with a chuckle. “Any misbehaving child, they’d call me.”

Teachers are grateful for her skillful handling of children.

“She’s been so involved in helping other teachers that I’ve been aware of her for a long time,” says Gentzch. “She’s known for her great management with kids.”

Rosemary Garabito, the special education teacher in the class, praises Dunkley’s thoroughness. “She’ll take notes on the lesson so she knows what’s going on,” Garabito says. “She’s been a blessing.”

Dunkley also inspires fellow paras. Chidoka Obiechefu, a first-year paraprofessional, says, “She encourages me, and she’s there for all teachers. She’s more like a school para.”

Dunkley says simply, “I like to help everybody.”

She attributes her success managing children in part to growing up with a large extended family — 12 people including four siblings and various aunts and uncles — living together in Jamaica. But when she moved to this country she lived in a group home.

“There was a counselor who understood me and helped me to be a better person,” says Dunkley. She followed his advice about staying in school and getting a job.

“I want to give children what I got from that counselor. I listened to him, and it changed everything,” she says.

As for her children, Dunkley says they are gaining insight into their own youthful behavior by working with children. “They’re learning about raising children by being paras. I feel good because their lives will be better for it.”