Class of ’54 Commitment to Teaching Fellowship Recipients 2013
Amherst is proud of its recent graduates who have chosen to teach in urban and other school systems where students may be considered “at risk” or are socio-economically disadvantaged. Through the generosity of the Class of 1954, which has established a Commitment to Teaching Fund, Amherst is able each year to award stipends to a limited number of Amherst graduates who have been teaching for ten years or less.
The five 2013 awardee biographies are listed below.
Julie Abodeely ’99
Julie grew up in northern New Jersey. She spent her summer working at a community camp for underprivileged kids in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Working at this camp helped plant the seeds for teaching. At Amherst, Julie majored in Anthropology. Her study of cultural anthropology and sociology helped shape her views on inequalities and social justice.
After college Julie worked for McGraw-Hill Publishing on the editorial side of college text books. She worked in publishing for two years before she sought more challenging and rewarding work. In 2004 Julie was accepted into the New York City Teaching Fellows. Teaching fellows receive scholarships for their masters while they work in public schools. Fellows usually have little teaching experience but are committed to the idea of creating social change through education.
As a Fellow, Julie was hired as a third grade teacher at PS 124 in Brooklyn, New York. She received her Masters of Education in 2006 from Pace University.
She is now in her ninth year of teaching at PS 124 and she remains committed to the challenges and triumphs of teaching.
Colin Brinson ’89
Colin was inspired by his professors at Amherst to pursue a career in education. Professors Gordon Levin, Austin Sarat, Frank Couvares, Joanne Dobson, and Hadley Arkes served as outstanding role models for him. His football coach, Jim Ostendarp, further influenced Colin’s career when he famously turned down an appearance on national television, stating, “we’re in the education business, not the entertainment business.” Inspired by “The Darp’s” steadfast devotion to academics, Colin entered the “education business,” earning a teaching certificate and M.S. Ed. in Social Studies at Buffalo State College.
In 1992, Colin was hired for his “dream job” as a Social Studies Teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Buffalo, NY. He has been Social Studies Department Chairperson for the past 12 years, coached Varsity Football for 13 years, and was elected Union Vice President for four terms.
At JFK, funding resources are scarce. 60% of the students receive free or reduced lunches. As Chief Negotiator for two teacher contracts, Colin has addressed the socioeconomic needs of the school by negotiating wage freezes and health care concessions that saved academic programs. Despite shrinking budgets and increasing class sizes, John F. Kennedy High School has been rated a “Gap Closing School” because it consistently outperforms other schools with similar socioeconomic climates.
Colin’s proudest accomplishment is the creation of the Advanced Placement US Government and Politics program at JFK in 2003. Since its inception, the program has grown in popularity and by 2012, 70% of the senior class had chosen to take this accredited college course. Colin insists on granting open enrollment in his Advanced Placement course, because of his belief that all students can reach high levels of achievement. The AP exam results in his courses provide strong evidence that all students can rise to the challenge of rigorous expectations when given the opportunity.
Danielle Kelsick ’03
Danielle’s commitment to education stems from the transformative role education played in her own life, which inspired her to help at-risk students make the most of their education. At Amherst, she fell in love with literary criticism and postcolonial literature through her many English courses. She was also inspired by an unforgettable semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Danielle’s passion for learning was fueled by her experiences as an Amherst student and continues unabated today.
After Amherst, Danielle worked for a few years as a non-profit curriculum developer and a charter school program coordinator, but she eventually came to believe that her impact on education reform would be greater within the classroom than outside it.
After completing her master’s degree in 2008, Danielle began teaching English at the Community School for Social Justice (CSSJ), a small high school in the South Bronx focused on community learning and social justice. Today Danielle continues to teach some of her favorite books to 11th graders at CSSJ. Her current projects include a new course that fosters critical thinking skills through the study of popular film.
Brook Levine-Adler ’05
Brook grew up in a small town in Vermont where she cultivated her love for math and dance. She worked on an organic farm in the summers and graduated from Brattleboro Union High School. After attending Amherst, she worked for a year at a group home where she cared for four elderly women with cognitive and developmental disabilities. To continue her work with people, Brook decided to go back to school and get her Masters in Education through the Boston Teacher Residency program. Modeled after the medical residency structure, this program emphasizes mentorship and maximizing time in the classroom.
At Amherst, Brook switched between many majors starting with math and ending with psychology. She found her love of learning about how people think, make decisions, and develop into the people who they are. The courses in the psychology department reinforced Brook’s desire to work with people and she uses this knowledge daily when helping students with their social, emotional, and academic growth.
Currently, Brook lives and teaches in Boston. For the past six year, she has been a high school math teacher at Brighton High School. Brighton is a large (about 1200 students) public high school that is a part of the Boston Public Schools. Students come to Brighton from all over the world, speak many languages, and come with a variety of experiences. More than a third of students are English Language Learners, almost 20 percent are Special Education Students, and more than 80 percent are considered low income. Students come from all over the city to attend Brighton and commutes over an hour are common. Brook is continually inspired by the hard-work, determination, and curiosity of her students.
Yasmin Navarro ’10
Born in Houston, Texas, Yasmin Navarro grew up in a single parent household to a mother who had emigrated from Mexico in the mid-1980s. She spoke Spanish as a primary language at home until the age of 11, when she was persuaded to apply to an all-English middle school, where she struggled to learn to read and write in a second language. By the time she reached high school those struggles were far behind her, she spent her high school years taking a challenging mixture of AP and IB curriculum courses, volunteering in Women’s shelters and becoming a tech hand in theater productions.
After her arrival at Amherst in the fall of 2006, Yasmin spent her first couple of years awash in cultural shock. She threw herself into extra-curricular clubs like La Causa and the Spanish Culture house in order to create a family in what often seemed like a cold and unfamiliar world. Through her work with La Causa she was inspired by the selflessness and awareness that the organization brought to the community, sparking a desire to bring that awareness to others. Amherst provided an incredibly kind and knowledgeable faculty and staff and a space where a student could feel like taking risks would be met with acceptance and constructive feedback, lessons she continues to draw upon in her classroom.
Since graduating from Amherst in 2010 Yasmin has worked in Hayward, California as a Spanish 2 and Spanish AP teacher at a wonderfully inclusive and demanding public charter school. Within the past three years she has worked to develop a relevant and academically challenging curriculum that educates young Latinos to critically analyze the events that shape their lives. Her goal as a teacher is to help her students in feeling capable of expressing themselves in an academic setting by developing their voices and self-esteem. Students spend a year studying poetry, novels, music and current events in order to expose them to a wealth of culture that they may not be aware lies at their very fingertips.