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Fort Hamilton High School Staff Panel- February 24, 2021

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Fort Hamilton high school staff engaged in a discussion with students about their experiences prior to becoming educators. Recorded February 24, 2021

Show Transcript

okay emerges about life hello everyone we are excited welcome you to our panel with Fort house with Fort Hamilton stuff each other of our Palace today held a career before they became a teachers and we're here today to ask your questions about and learn about these great staff members so I'm first we'd like to introduce our moderators my name is Hannah Polly and I'm the student organization president and my name is Brendan McCormack I'm the vice president of the school and I'm a senior okay so now we're going to ask each of our panelists introduce themselves with their name what role they sale at Fort Hamilton High School and just a brief introduction of the career that they held before they became an educator and we can start with Miss Morgenstern hello everybody my name is Miss Morgenstern and I do the yearbook at Fort Hamilton High School as well as teach create start usually with a digital Focus for being College and Career ready because my previous career I was a graphic designer for 25 years and then famous magazines that you have being on the Shelf like People magazine tennis magazine PC Magazine country living and timing and that's about me awesome we'll go to mr. Randazzo next hi everyone I'm Anthony Randazzo as opposed to Robert in the science department, social studies teacher I've been social studies teacher hear it for now in for 9 years I want to say for the majority of those now dealing with the Honors Academy freshman I also run the chess club started this year before I became a teacher and I joined for talent I am I owned a wine and liquor store for about 10 years in Brooklyn so that was my career before and very happy to be in this career fair now cable go to next hi everyone on the Wanda Rivera and I have been a teacher for about 10 years on my role at Fort Hamilton is a special education English teacher I teach ICT and I'm very proud of that and my career before this was as a banking branch manager and I started in banking as a teller and move my way up to branch manager welcome and last but not least thank you and hello everybody thanks for having me my name is Kay Houlihan and I'm the principal at Fort Hamilton this is my ninth year as a principal and I have dial Samsung number of 20 close to 20 years in education but I started kind of post-college working at a talent agency I knew I didn't want to be an actor but I wanted to be kind of involved in the entertainment industry and then I kind of moved to the nonprofit sector I work for WNYC TV and radio which remains nonprofit is owned by the city I work for Planned Parenthood so that nonprofit kind of experience you know kind of led me back closer into what I really wanted to do was education so this is the best fit for me even though I really value. Nonprofit kind of administrator you know experience in those two other organizations so thanks for having me okay that all sounds great thank you guys so about half of people signed up for this panel are Juniors who will be in by working on their couch process and under a year can you tell us a bit about your educational background like what school are schools did you attend and what was your major so we'll start with the mrs. Rivera to begin with so when I began College I went to CSI CUNY love CUNY I went to see a sorry and when I started I wanted to be in an account an accountant and I'm I began taking English classes and I had to shift my focus into English around my second year in college and then I made it in English and then I did my masters in education so I always wanted to be a teacher but I was you know fighting the The Urge and I was fighting the use of passion and I finally just when I started my my master's program it really just hit home for me that education was where I wanted to go okay that sounds awesome the next will have missed two hand to tell us some stuff so I went to Drew University it's a small liberal arts school in New Jersey you just a great experience you know I got involved with the theater and again I thought I already said I knew I'd I want to be an actor but I really loved being in kind of a creative arts I got a master's or not a mess I got a ba in English and theater and then went off to no work in the town agency but then work to WNYC and then after that you know kind of again getting closer to education with Planned Parenthood a big part of Planned Parenthood is about educating you know Healthcare it's not just about you know pro-choice and that's what I thought you know what I want to go back to school so I went to Binghamton I got the Masters in teaching and an English cuz again I didn't know where I wanted to be a but once I realized once I started doing my student teaching it was all about every single day seeing the student seeing them go you know Halloween the holiday is the Fridays versus the Mondays and just that ability to form those relationships I was hooked so shortly after I started teaching again I knew I kind of wanted to marry me administrative with my education so I have the opportunity to go to bank Street to get my masters in supervision and administration and then everything kind of came together so that was my past 2:40 okay that all sounds really great miss Houlihan and next to her next we'll have a mister and does O2 tell us about his experience in school okay so when I graduated high school in 1992 I ended up at Brooklyn College and didn't really enjoy my experience to be honest and being I was much smarter in my own head that in reality so I decided to go out into the workforce and take my chances there many years later because of a career change I thought about getting back to college and earning my degree and one of my college professors actually asked me if I thought about teaching because I was constantly tutoring other students in class I never really considered it but you know I always wanted to be a doctor from the time I was a really young child and that's the more I thought about teaching more excited I got about I got or that career path so enrolled in CSI that's where I had gotten all my teaching credits and that's where I graduated and got my Master's Degree and the rest is history or social studies all right awesome last but not least real that will have mr. Morgenstern okay so I went to Binghamton University as an undergrad and my parents did not want how to be an artist they absolutely refuse they were like no way you are going to do tree logs pre-med or accounting but of course I took all the art classes that I could and my first piece of graphic design was photoshopping my report card from college not changing the grades I had all straight A's it was changing the name of the classes so when my parents saw it they would thought I was taking other classes and when I say this when I finished a Binghamton a professor recommended me to be a paid intern for a very famous graphic designer and I work for that a woman for 2 years and she had the Rolodex of the top 500 graphic designers in the world so I was interfacing with those people everyday it was like the Oscars of graphic design and then one day a lady I planned a conference in Monterey for like all these graphic designers and I sat on an airplane so you know this is very important because you never know who you're going to meet and when you're going to meet them and I saw it on an airplane 18 seats on that airplane I sat next to a woman who turns to me and said you planned a fabulous concert conference if you ever need a job look me up 3 months later I called her I was offered a job in graphic design but truth be told I didn't know the program's I like I said of course I know the program and I studied the night before and within two weeks of working at that job he was like a temporary basis she offered me the full-time job and I stayed there many years and from there I went from job to job in the industry because I knew all the people and I know that a big important part of getting any job in any industry is networking so that's very very which I think we'll talk about later while I was at another job which I held for 14 years at time Inc which does like the People magazine and the time in the Life Magazine they paid for my Master's Degree at NYU in great thank you all so much so now we're going to get into individual questions for each panelist about their specific work before becoming Educators and then we'll jump back into some general questions that we got from her so first mr. Vera in many careers people started in an entry level position or able to rise through the ranks with lots of dedication so we want to know when working at a bank how did you prove yourself to your employer's to be promoted from a towel eventually to the branch manager well I'm very well known for having a bubbly personality and just being friendly and outgoing and just you know all around like you know a lot of people know me and like me and I it's not you know cocky to say but you know I do think that our personality goes a long way in making sure that you say good morning to people hello please thank you all of that like people remember that I'm so that's one thing it's actually a really funny story really quick that we used to have these performances for sales at the bank and when we did people would do like cover songs so you would do cover songs and like it was part of the entertainment and then we gave out sales Awards and as a tell her I did a cover song of Aretha Franklin's respect and I basically had dress that I had stitched together using like little poppet and then I ripped the dress off at one point in the in the show so let's just say that and this is an event to see the CEO was that that all of the you know the higher-ranking administrators are at like so it's like all of the vice presidents are there and I'm ripping my dress off singing respect so let's just say I was remembered so whenever I interviewed for a position they will take a whole yes I remember you so that's one thing one thing I can add is that always try don't rip your dress off in the middle of a song but you know try always leaving your mark and leaving a person already on the person that you are speaking to any person that you're speaking to I also took feedback and I applied it so never be so caught up in you know the talent things that you can't take feedback so if someone gives you feedback be humble enough to apply it to what you're doing and then I'll be flexible because there was a position that was offered to me that was New Jersey I live in Staten Island it cost more money for me to travel you know to that place but it was a promotion and I took it because I know that eventually I could come back and be in you know my closer to home but as the rank that I had you know and then just be be courageous never not ask questions you never know when opportunity is going to present itself so that's how I went from teller to head teller Wella teller assist assistant I tell her to head tell her to on the sales desk and then assistant manager and then branch manager eventually okay cool now missing graphic design is a fields that require skill and a creativity as well as the ability to Market yourself to people looking to hire you that we want to know how do you maintain a portfolio that allowed you to be tired by so many well-known companies so the the thing about it is is very simple it's called Apples to Apples oranges to oranges so let's say I wanted to apply for a job at tennis magazine or Sports Illustrated or ESPN magazine I would make sure my portfolio has sports or alike designs of Articles and if I didn't really work at that magazine Sports in it I would make up my own article so I would have a stamp I would say this is an unpublished sample of sports same thing with fashion so if I was gone I think I'll miss Morgenstern might be having some technical difficulties so for now we're just going to move on to our next panelist and when she gets this resolved we will go back to her ex miss coullahan working in the nonprofit sector can we have a feeling experience but some people shy away from it for a variety of reasons so what do you think some of the biggest misconceptions are about working in nonprofit in the nonprofit sector and what experiences do you have that prove he's misconceptions to wrong I think the first misconception is that you can't make any money and I remember when I left WNYC Foundation this is back in 19 1986 is when I started there and then I you know I left six years later to go to Planned Parenthood I mean I was making $60,000 and that maybe doesn't sound like a lot of my but I knew when I left there I was never going to make that much money teaching so again that misconception of you can't really make an honest or decent living in a non-profit is is wrong is the scale different yes but you can certainly earn a living it's also you know nonprofits again there they're all different just like all corporations and all schools are different but it really in all the nonprofits I worked in gave me an opportunity to do a lot of different things I mean I started out as an executive assistant and then I became an associate in the the budget and finance and then I became the assistant director in the budget and finance department and then I became the director of budget and finance so again I started out of someone's assistant I you know I worked really hard I was eager to learn you know I read everything that my boss got because I figured if I knew what he was doing I'd better be able to support him and he was you know this kind of on the ground floor of broad casting you know he always talked about how much in the debates between Nixon and Kennedy he always talks about how much Nixon sweat and just lots of really great stories he was he was the ability to just get to learn a lot of different things and then you know kind of similar to what has also been said if somebody asks you to do something sure I'll figure it out and again it was just you know people are usually there because they're passionate about what the organization stands for so you have kind of a a collegiality of the mission about the organization certainly you know public broadcasting I didn't necessarily have a passion about that but I was very interested in it as a as an educational I'm informational institution and what they stood for in serving a different communities in New York you know they had Italian programming Chinese programming so that was kind of totally new to me that there was even such a thing and just again I think there might be easier opportunities can a non-profit to learn and grow. That was my experience at least and I really appreciate that I think people live more flexible about taking people like right out of college and helping them you know kind of find maybe there in what they're good at those are result for me great thank you I we have Miss Morgenstern back so if you wanted to finish what you were saying about your portfolio and comparing Apples to Apples thank you sir I think my dog tripped the internet and it happened so sorry about that if you hear him he's making a few noises so not only the portfolio but networking Portland when you I wanted a picky back off what principle Houlihan just said my first job in the industry was critical because it kind of segments you do on a on a path for example like if you start doing graphic design in fashion you're probably going to stay in the fashion world if you start in sports you're probably going to stay in sports believe it or not the highest paid jobs in graphic design or called farm for sword for pharmaceutical and financial and that material kind of looks kind of dry not as Cayenne fast as you know Rolling Stone magazine or Vogue magazine certain industries just pay more than others so my suggestion is no matter what it is paid start in the genre you really want like if you want to work for a car company figure it out figure it out figure out who to call contact when you go to your college find out the alumni who work in that field make connections very important because that first job set you on your path not saying that you can't switch me to switch but it's very important to do what you love because if you find yourself fighting Bingo make a change if you find yourself fighting in a genre that you don't like let's listen to that feeling okay cool thank you mr. Morgenstern next will move on to mr. Ren. So now being a business owner is a daunting task especially for people who are who are considering taking off for the first time now what surprised you about being a business owner and what resources are available to business owners like to be like that to be great in their business yeah that's a great question when when I first bought the business I really didn't have any desire to do that I was working on Wall Street at the time I kind of fold my way into getting a job there they've they were looking for a college graduate and like I said I dropped out of college of that point so I did well on my interview at the end of the interview told my employer is listen I don't have a college education but if you're impressed with what you've heard so far you know what maybe you can give me a chance I'm a quick study and they did take that chance on me and gave me an opportunity to work at a Wall Street firm and there I kind of learned a lot about how business worked and I felt confident when my former employers called me all through high school and work at this particular liquor store stock boy and there were five brothers that owned it they were looking to get out of the business they all had other jobs and this is how you know a side business for them so rather than put out market and take their chances they offered it to me my first big so creative financing thing was do it to figure out a way to buy a business with no money so I negotiated set up a payment plan to purchase the business and then I was kind of off and running the thing that surprised me most to your question was the dedication of time and energy. required I knew that I would be working weekends and holidays I knew that this was going to be literally my baby I would have to nurture it and watch it grow and take care of I didn't realize that it was a 24/7 Endeavor that even when I was sleeping I would be having dreams of bottles of wine and liquor and and merchandise I would have a number of those dreams in the beginning the resources that are out there today are numerous of when I bought the business in 2001 there weren't as many resources online there was there was a learning curve that was these days there's so many resources online and and ways to connect with other people waste and Market your business using the internet that didn't exist but now do so hopefully if anyone is entrepreneurial in spirit you'll have much more success in a smoother ride than I had great thank you all for those answers so never going to move on to some more general questions and our plan is to take two to three responses to each question so just a note for the panelists if you could please use the race can be sure and we'll be able to calling you from there okay so the first question is what made you decide to change jobs and how did you know that being an educator was the right job for you okay Miss Miss Morgenstern you can then ask him is to love him my dog is may talk I am I am ran an art intern program I'd already been there 14 years so I wasn't designing everyday like I normally did I was hiring the talent and I was going to all the major art skills talent for this company and everyone just text saying you're such a natural educator of developing the talent is Not only would I hire these young people was I was able to find the right candidate like I was able to see what the kids didn't see in themselves so I could see a kid brand new out of college and I can see they're really good at illustrating they're really good at digital they're really good at movie they're really good at editing they're really good at copy editing like I could I could just see from the resume see from their portfolios right what their skill-set was and how to translate that skill set of the student to the company and every single person that I did hire not only got scooped up by the company but they weren't they have been there for years some of them are still there the people that I had hired or still at find me today and when things got a little rough in the industry this is something I should mention about graphic design and it's painful for me to mention is that the average lifespan of a graphic designer is only 10 years so when I say I was in the industry 25 I was really pushing it it's a kind of job like kind of like acting in a way that's called a pyramid job where a lot of people start off and she level but then as the years go by there's only so many physicians at the top you can't have everyone be at the top set people to bottom the middle and the top so what do people do they transition out maybe they go into production or maybe they go into project management or account management or maybe there no other other stings on there's other avenues to go as a graphic designer and I became a graphic designer but I really was by that point Studio manager Rob is managing 30 or 4 Defiance in an ad agency and their production needs so you're soaking million multimillion-dollar projects and accounts you know which high-level people personalities and after a while it's survived 13 years of layoffs at that company every year they always had a layoff and it just put a pit in my stomach like what am I going to do what's going to happen to me the company 10 years prior head wait for me to get my Master's in education and I thought this is the right time for me to use it because if I don't get into education now I'll be I'll be way too old by the time I was already teaching and training college students and high school students and working with young adults and I wanted to bring that level of energy an entrepreneurial ship into an art program where I could show people that don't think that they need are that they do because like what mr. Randazzo said business is now don't print flyers or things like that they do internet marketing Stadium internet promotions they do games they do all that on the internet and that's what I'm hoping to teach the students because that's the future that's what's happening okay awesome next Miss Houlihan erased her hand you can go yes well I always love I love I love reading a great thing to be in school all the time I never thought I was smart enough I still don't really think I'm that smart I'm a good hard worker and I'd like to learn and I think that passion for story and relationship seminar you know with a big reader always on Michelle very lucky that my mom you know believed in Reading to us at night time we always all had a book so it was a very natural thing to like you know about be my favorite subject in high school I continued studying that in collagen and got the Masters but I think finding that what I really love to do is I'd love to not just read but I I love to figure out how the writer used language or used in a different things to really enough convey the relationships the message you know about a time. Or wherever so once I have the opportunity directed when I was an undergrad I think that was in a way like one of my initial teaching experiences because that is about you know having actors find the character be able to work together and it just was always so satisfying and I think I was conscious of it at that time but I think what I was really a Planned Parenthood and I was just more aware of that education in that organization and how that was such a you know I was at the National Organization so it seemed to be more prominent there that's where I began to kind of put the pieces together I didn't I didn't think I wanted to teach high school you know it made me nervous to think about you know adulescens you know it was nice not an easy time but again once I started it just seemed like the most normal thing in the world and I value the experience that I had before I think it gives me a good perspective about you know what's going on in the classroom and what's the work-life that our students are going to go off to I mean not everybody is going to go off and be a teacher I think that would be great I love that we have you know graduates come back and they're on our staff now you know I think that's a beautiful wonderful thing about our Fort Hamilton Community you know you have to have some experience of what is it like to work in an office what's it like to work where you have layoffs you know nothing that doesn't happen in school but just that kind of the different environment I think helps me appreciate that you know the student who says I don't like school what is this going to do for me when I get out of here and it's not you know reading Grapes of Wrath is going to solve all the world's problems but when you are engaged in a text and talking about it and thinking about it and making connections to you know history and what was going on four different you know segments of our our population and other parts of the world that stinking and that you know getting this brain working exercising you know what I feel is the most important muscle in the heart is more important but just keeping that the humanity and why call me to be you know as generous as possible and aware that we're not the only people here I think that's the lesson all of our students and staff know because we are always so you know I have a shoulder to shoulder at Hamilton Beach again I think it just felt like it was the right thing to do and a teacher in a my high school English teacher you know I think he was waiting for me to come back to become the teacher and he used to laugh at me when I used to sit I'm just smart enough to be a teacher I'm just not smart enough so anyway he still laughs about it he's 91 now actually is 92 * 92 ask about it but anyway I would say is the greatest gift to be a teacher and I'm very blessed so thank you okay and that's do we have a message I'm going to share her so there two reasons why I went into teaching and in my childhood I didn't have like a very easy childhood do high school from when I was young throughout my high school through high school the only constant was that I had great teachers you know what I mean so I have people I teachers not only were supportive but that was tough on my not only were you know they're not only did they feed me with you no food but they also fed me with knowledge and encouragement and motivation I went to Catholic when I was like in junior high school so that was kind of rough too and then when I got to high school I know that I wouldn't have graduated if it wasn't for the encouragement of my guidance counselor my global history teacher and my you know my English teacher and just being able to walk into you know an office and have someone say what do you need was just so vital during my high school you know years and not the second reason was because as a a young woman growing up I thought about being a teacher but I never really saw any women like me you know so I wanted to become a because I wanted to also have students look at me and see a black teacher in front of them and be encouraged and be represented for their work for them for themselves because we're we're encouraged by what we see and also by what we connection so I know I had great teachers and I'm not taking that away by race or culture or anything like that I had wonderful teacher to encourage me and supported me. oh no that I did this feel a disconnect as far as wanting to become a teacher because I didn't necessarily feel like I saw someone that looks like me so I wanted to change that you know be a trendsetter which is important as well and then I do you know I'm here I'm here and I'm doing it so thank you all for sharing so our next question is are we office like six or seven times out of the people who signed up so burning question what was the transition like from your previous career to becoming an educator or what's the transition between careers like in general SI I think this kind of goes back to with Miss Rivera was saying earlier I think that if you are putting your personality out there that the transition from one career the next is not that difficult like you've learned the the nuts and bolts of What that particular career entails but you're just being yourself and doing the working and doing what's necessary so in that way the transition of this there's always a learning curve but it's it's not as daunting or as difficult as you might think just you know I have the right attitude have you know a good work ethics all the things you're learning to do at Fort Hamilton just keep doing that and you'll be fine in my opinion thank you and Miss Herrera well if I'm real right it's not easy to make any transition into anything you know because you have to change your mind frame but one way that you can look at it is is that it doesn't how you started but it matters how you sent it you know so in working at a bank I like I felt like I have wasted a lot of time but I didn't I had to look deep down I'm at the lessons that banking was teaching me that I connect to the classroom and that was so important you know what I mean and it really encouraged me because I do believe in it you know the sort of like path that you walk that's what it like there is little red flags that come along along the way and I do feel that banking was a really good part of my life and I'm grateful for it and it taught me a lot and it does guide me in my teaching as well I am in teaching is my passion and where I'm at and I couldn't have done that without having the foundation of the past that I've walked to get here you know it's so important that you encourage yourself to live the life that you want to live and not regret but you know be proud of your of your walk in your path okay awesome know our next question is what advice do you have four students were trying to pick between two careers Miss Sue hand you can go first I mean I don't know if everybody on our panel would say this but you know you really should choose what you love you know I've always had a second job so I'm used to kind of making my finances work always lived very frugally but when you're satisfied in your work life everything else will fall into place I don't mean to minimize that you need a certain amount of money to live but you you can make it work and you have the energy to make it work if you're doing something that you love and that keeps you learning you know somewhere there where there's a place you can grow or that they're you know colleagues that you can learn from you know they motivate you or they are in some ways maybe mentoring you and taking you under their wing to kind of take those next steps to move you know into another position to learn a different back to the business for the work that you're in so again if you you know you guys are maybe already heard this you know if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life believe me every day as my love teaching and being a principal working in the school is it still work it is definitely still work but it is work that I love and I can't imagine doing anything else so I feel very lucky to have able to choose something that I love so that would be my advice awesome and next we have Miss Morgenstern so especially in the Arts but maybe especially in these times be prepared to hear a lot and knows I hate to say that I missed your far will tell you the dance teacher the Joffrey dance teacher that we have at Fort Hamilton if you're going to go into the Arts or any career you're going to hear no and it's not a reflection on you maybe you're not the right fit and it's okay for that job someone eventually will say yes someone will give you a yes someone will give you that stuff but just be prepared to hear no just needed to hear no thank you I'm sorry keep in touch PlayStation 4 touch do keep in touch maybe 6 months later write them an email after a job interview write a personal hand thank you that's the way to be memorable so maybe you'll be. time because you also don't know the backstory of what's going on at a job like they may have already promised the job to someone else may have it still from an internal candidate or some other equation but they have to interview a bunch of you don't you don't even know what's going on what you can't see like I was saying before that first job is really important within the career that you're trying to build the really try to get make a list make a list do your research make a list of those 10 companies you want to work for and do your research on make sure that you know why but they're directions what their Trends are so when you go on the interview about with the employer and be prepared to tell them like this is a spell alien graphic design and I also teach college at night to students in graphic design so I stayed at this is the number one question they're going to ask you is cool influences you light in that field hoody so you could take that who do you look up to who's an influence to you be prepared to talk about where your influence has come from the doctor if they're you never know what is it like if you said something like I also am passionate about playing volleyball I played volleyball at Fort Hamilton High School you don't know if that person also plays volleyball you don't know what's an employer has a child that plays volleyball so that's something that would connect you so be prepared to give a little bit of yourself of your passion and be robust in what you have to talk about you describe about yourself memorable to stand out. That's what I would say just some advice like that great awesome so moving on this is one that I think Brendan Road which I think is really interesting if you have to take one aspect of your old work environment and bring it into your life as a teacher what would it be so that's basically a fancy way of saying what do you value in your work environment and workplace you know cultures are able to Candice Rivera when I was working in banking my old manager said to me once she gave me some advice that you just never know what a person is going through so offer them your light right so whenever someone walked in even if the customer was not nice or very cross and I've had quite a few you just offer them the shiniest part of yourself so I actually had a customer come in and like have a breakdown for some apparent reason and like just yelling screaming like and they only wanted to talk to me because they always talk to me so because I always was like a morning how are you how's everything going and they came in and they would just shovel they didn't know what to do come to find out the one it was was robbed and like out in a walking home from the supermarket and she only connected it to someone who would comfort her with me you know so on every day that she came in make which was like probably three or four times a week you know she always flock to me because I gave her a sense of comfort and I take that into teaching because that's what I want my students to feel you know not come to me with your pie but always feel a sense of comfort when you come into my classroom always feel like that you will be greeted and and you know welcome and also you're expected to come in and view me and and you're going to get the same person almost every day and if you don't I'm going to tell you you're not you know what I mean I'm like not today okay so and people if you are on the third floor Bridge you always hear me singing I'm always singing in my classroom and you know some days it's welcome and some days it's not but you know what can you do at least you know what you're getting so that's one thing you just don't know what people are going through and you have to offer them your white so that's really great thank you moving on to mr. and Elsa how to say that from my former career I think the thing that I brought into teaching with me is a sense of sort of personal responsibility that when you were in business for yourself there is no other person to blame for your success or failure like it is all rest on you like the work that you put in is the work is the reward that you get out and I think I brought that with me to teaching in the sense that there is no bad student it's a my failure in you know reaching that student so it just means I have to go back to the drawing board and look at a different way of doing things so I think that was a storm of valuable from my last career just you know always being willing to put in the work and and hopefully reaping those Rewards awesome Miss Morgenstern well I do the yearbook I'm still doing graphic design I haven't left so I'm thrilled but I I will tell you I did my student teaching Fort Hamilton in from 2002 to 2006 and I had always cats not at not very often but I've always kept in touch with mr. overly and that's how I was asked back many many years later that that is how the relationship happen and I also like mr. Randazzo I try to cheats news about the power of of visual the power of the image the power of a logo the power of color the power of using different kinds of fonts to be able to communicate they're on a resume run a website or on a YouTube channel whatever for their own personal used or professional use is a way that you're communicating visually we communicate visually nowadays to the worlds and the importance of that so I try to bring that to the students and hopefully that crosses language called Sharon and Crosses those barriers thank you and I thought about this question in a little bit of a different way in terms of what what I wish I could bring from my old work life like I wish I had you know the space that I used to have and in all of my work life situations that was never an issue there was never crowded you know once I started becoming a teacher I mean I was I was basically found a little corner the photocopier room to find like that was where I worked and I kind of fought my way to the point where I was in sharing a desk again space is kind of like following me as a big issue but in terms of what I think you know I also realized when I got into a school situation is you really need to be organized I found you know the people I started working with they were teachers forever they went you know out of high school to college and then right into teaching so they didn't really see any other way so they had a lot of experience to offer me as a teacher but they didn't know how how to organize they didn't know how to you know do anything with you no resources so it became kind of a natural thing that you know suddenly I was the Regents coordinator and you know figuring out how to make sure you know everybody was doing the right amount of grading when we all did marking the regions within our own school so I think it's the organizational aspect that I think if you that structure and I think that's really important as a teacher as well but you've got your routines students know and I'm not everyday is the same but they are routines that make new material are new skills a little here to take because you've got the routines of you know and now we was kind of more less established new routines with remote learning but I think that you know just kind that organizational and trying to be so fortive and I think I would Echo also Atmos rent as a said when I think about you know a teacher maybe you know I saw a lesson maybe that wasn't so great or a student who was really struggling what didn't I do what could I do to make a difference you know it is always that it's my responsibility even though I don't know everything that's going on in our very big school I still feel like if somebody couldn't do something student AP School aide teacher whatever I didn't do something at the right time or in the right place to help them do that so that again in it in outside of Education where they're you know I was in situations where there were not unions just kind of the way you handled performance was a little bit different that would be something else I think that if there were a way to know better support teachers and make sure that you know the very best were working in our schools which were very lucky at for Hamilton okay great and our last question of today is what did you want your career to be when you are in high school and how does that compare to where you are now and we're just getting a little bit close to the five marks this could be sort of like rapid-fire answers okay go ahead mr. Randazzo so like I said earlier from the moment I could talk I wanted to a doctor so that was the dream the whole time until I actually made it into college and it's completely different from where I am now but I have to I'd do it all over again I'm way happier as as a teacher than I ever would have been as a doctor I think I accidentally found my calling and I feel lucky and blessed for it a necklace to him I also wanted to be a doctor I thought you know helping people was going to be great I mean I took physics I took chemistry you know I did well but one I got to college I have no interest in other than the social sciences I took psychology and all those kinds of things but I realized it really you know cutting people open or looking at their ears and and I'm really dealing with a lot of suffering was not really a good fit for me you know again kind of working more with the mental development is where I thought would be a better place for my skills in my interest last but not least mrs. Rivera you can go ahead I wanted to be a unicorn that's what I wanted to be and now I'm making magic everyday so there you go and always memorable all right awesome so I want to thank all of our panelists for their participation and thank you to everyone who's watching just to plug arm for next month I think it's going to be a very exciting one we're hosting our state senator city councilman and state assemblywoman on March 24th and it's going to be sort of a similar panel style discussion with more questions from Fort Hamilton students so I hope you all join us there and thank you and have a good night everyone

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Fort Hamilton High School Staff Panel- February 24, 2021

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