Long after middle school is over, most adults still shudder at those cruel and capricious years. Not Andrea Hecht, who looks back with reverence to lessons learned at Louis Armstrong MS in East Elmhurst. “We were taught social responsibility to yourself, to your classmates, to the bigger world and to the earth itself,” says Hecht, now 37. “We learned not to make assumptions about anyone, but to learn about people, their perspective and their history. What I learned at Louis Armstrong informs every day of my life both personally and professionally.”

Hecht is a senior counsel for the Law Department of New York City. In Family Court, Hecht represents custodial parents who live out of state in matters from establishing paternity to securing child support payments from a parent who lives in New York City. She also conducts presentations at schools and throughout the community on child support and family law issues. “It might sound corny, but the most satisfying and gratifying part of my work is that I get to help people on a very personal level,” says Hecht, a graduate of the NYU School of Law. “When a woman thanks you for getting her the help she needs — she’s been working two jobs to put food on the table for her three kids — the feeling is indescribable.”

I grew up in Fresh Meadows, Queens, where my parents still live. My mom was a school librarian at IS 73 in Maspeth, Queens, and my dad oversaw the development and management of mostly low-income housing. When I was growing up, virtually everyone in the neighborhood was white and middle class. I went to PS 26, around the corner. I always did well in school, but I came alive in middle school. We were bused to Louis Armstrong, then a magnet school, in East Elmhurst.

I remember Mrs. Fitzgerald in 5th grade. She was open and warm and welcoming, just what you need starting a new school, especially one outside your neighborhood. This was the first time I had gone to school with children from so many ethnic backgrounds. It was a little intimidating initially. But the teachers at Louis Armstrong taught us how to relate to each other as individuals and to see past our differences.

First of all, the mere exposure to students who could tell you firsthand about their cultural backgrounds and countries was amazing. We celebrated the holidays of everyone. The teachers lectured and taught us, of course, but it was the openness and acceptance of the school that helped form our view of the world and one another.

Mr. Siegel, my 7th-grade English teacher, taught me how to read. I mean really read — to understand, to think, to take it in. He was very much a mentor to me, guiding me in my analytical growth. I’m still a huge reader, and I love to analyze and argue.

I also had this great science teacher, a hippie with longish hair who I can still visualize. He would bring his guitar to class and sing songs about science. He made learning science fun. I discovered an interest in biology and ecology and the natural world that continues today.

Nothing ever came close to Louis Armstrong, but I was fortunate that when I went to Cardozo HS in Bayside, a huge school of 3,000 students, my math teacher was Mrs. Kirsch. She was also my guidance counselor. First of all, math was not my strong suit. She made math palatable and high school, too. She was always there for me. If I screwed up, she was there. If I did something great, she was there. She was a touchstone of stability.

I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, a public interest lawyer, the kind who never gets rich but has a positive impact on human beings. It’s not just about helping others less fortunate. It helps me. I need to feel that I’m having an impact, that I’m doing something worthwhile with my mind and my time.

I love that Louis Armstrong MS helped me discover myself and helped me develop as a human being. I give a lot of credit to my parents, too. They didn’t feel threatened by or afraid of people who were different from them, and they were always supportive, even when I traveled to a country that I had to show them on a map, or when I got a tongue ring in college. OK, the tongue ring didn’t go over well at all.

— As told to reporter Christina Cheakalos