Ten students from P396 K, a District 75 school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, read books they wrote during a Zoom presentation on Feb. 11, as part of an evening with the Sid Miller Academy Authors, a program begun during the pandemic to foster literacy and creativity at the school.

It’s difficult to become a coach in the National Football League; there are only 32 teams. Lou Anarumo, the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, followed an arduous road to get there. And on Feb. 13, that road, which began at Susan Wagner HS on Staten Island, took Anarumo all the way to the Super Bowl.

The teacher leader team at IS 145 in Jackson Heights, Queens, has stepped up to help keep pace with the changing needs of the students and the teachers at the school, which is located in one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Natalie Kavral is a 2011 graduate of the plumbing program at Queens Technical High School. Now, more than a decade later, Kavral, one of only two female plumbing teachers in New York City public schools, teaches plumbing and runs the plumbing program at her alma mater. 

These five UFT members — along with their fellow educators throughout New York City — grappled with fresh challenges as the omicron variant surged.

Each year since 1984, several of the city’s Career and Technical Education graduates have been nominated for the Success Via Apprenticeship program, which combines college courses with apprenticeships in classrooms and in each student’s chosen industry to prepare them, over five years, to teach in CTE programs. “SVAs are the foundation of career and technical education in New York City,” said UFT Vice President for CTE Leo Gordon.