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"Don't think for a minute that teachers don't make a difference...that you won't make a difference in the life of a student," he said. Billy, who has been nominated twice for the Disney Teacher of the Year Award, introduced a few of his current and former students to the audience as well as several other panelists who demonstrated how teachers can turn lives around. At the age of eight, one student learned how to cut drugs at her mother's kitchen table. By sixth grade, she was a mother herself, and her mother was in prison for a very long time. In ninth grade she walked into Billy's class, saying she had been "socially promoted" because she tried hard. Billy told her that in his class, in his world, she would have to earn her promotions. She has progressed since the beginning of the school year from an average in the 50s to grade in the upper 70s. Her self-confidence has grown, she said, because of her teacher's dedication.
Former BASD student Danny Hernandez, now a sophomore at Kutztown University, also credits Billy with helping him more than any teacher ever has. But Billy said Danny and students like him are the future of our country. "This is a kid who told me he had to carry a full class load and work 40 hours a week, and that he couldn't cut down on either. The reason? Danny pays his mother's rent...he pays all her bills," says Billy. "And he has been on the Dean's list every semester at college. He is our future." Panelist Dr. Douglas Lehr, supervisor of students at East Stroudsburg University, says that teachers shape the future of students by recognizing the difference between where to push and where not to. "A great teacher is one who steps out of the mold, who makes an impact and challenges students." Carlos Ojeda, former assistant dean of admissions at Kutztown, now teaches business there. He took the challenge of a high school guidance counselor to go to college, in spite of a teacher who told him that he was the "biggest piece of garbage on the face of the earth." An accomplished writer, speaker, and teacher Carlos stressed that teachers can make or break a student by their words. Andy Powns, a human resources director at UPS, said that as a kid growing up in the South Bronx, also known as Fort Apache, he had two people giving him advice. One was a bookie, the other a teacher. Fortunately, they were saying the same thing: you can't judge a book by its cover and you can't judge a kid by his behavior. After false starts and roadblocks, Andy earned his college degree and now oversees much of the hiring for UPS in the Lehigh Valley. East Hills Middle School Assistant Principal Jose Rosado knows about bad behavior. "I spent years being good at being bad," he said. He said he was so good at being bad he thought he had it made after graduating from BASD's Freedom High School. He had a job and he mad money to spend. "One day I was sitting under a tree outside my mother's place, drinking beer, thinking how good I had it. And a former teacher pulled up and asked me what the heck I was doing." When Jose told her his life was good, he was working, he had money, she burst his bubble, so to speak. She reached down, took his hand, and pulled him up. She convinced him to go to college at East Stroudsburg University, where he started studying criminal justice, but finished in education. Jose said it was that teacher's passion that propelled him to succeed. "Teaching should be a passion," he said. "It should move you to emotion."
Sandra Morrisette, adjunct professor of education, and Dr. Daria McDonald, associate professor of education, were instrumental in organizing the event. Sandra said she and her students were impressed that the teachers and counselors who influenced several of the speakers were not connected to the student through the classroom. It was a connection made through the extra effort of an interested educator. Sandra said some of her students had been questioning whether teaching was their future. "They said the panel discussion was the inspiration they needed to confirm that their career choice was a good one." NCConnect |
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He's a man with a mission. And it consumes him. Billy Staples '84 teaches and reaches at-risk kids in the Bethlehem Area School District. On November 4, 2004 Billy brought his mission and an all-star academic lineup to NCC education students and the community.
After witnessing his father's murder in New York City, one of Billy's former students, Victor Nivar, came to live with relatives in Bethlehem and went to Northeast Middle School, where Billy was teaching. He credited the teacher with having a positive and lasting effect on his life. The first in his family to attend college, the Kutztown University student says his teacher continues to guide and help him.
Emotion fueled much of author Rich Herschlag's high school creative writing class in New York City. The class, taught by a teacher from Dublin, Ireland, learned that creative writing should be engaging. A master editor, the teacher had a certain masochistic tendency when it came to cutting students' stories. But he was supportive and encouraging, regaling students with stories of his childhood in Dublin. Rich said it wasn't until years later that his teacher, Frank McCourt, published a book about his life, titled "Angela's Ashes."