Craig Warga/New York Daily News“Having excellent teachers in STEM classrooms will allow our students
to compete in the 21st century,” said schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
“It’s extremely important to have excellent teachers.”
Though many of the students in Griffin’s class come from struggling
middle schools in the south Bronx, his 10th-graders achieve an 80%
passing rate on state Regents exams.
They said their teacher keeps them interested in learning more about science.
“We’re always doing labs, and they keep me interested,” said Diego
Depena, 15, of the Bronx, who used fire and electrical current to test
the physical properties of copper and chalk in class Thursday. “Kids
actually want to go these classes.”
Another decorated horseman in the city’s STEM cavalry is Neal Singh, a
science teacher at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
and Performing Arts.
LaGuardia is renowned for its arts programs and doesn’t typically
attract kids with a great interest in science – but there are 200
students on a wait list to get into Singh’s environmental science
classes.
He uses guest lecturers and films to address current issues like
climate change, and challenges his students to offer solutions to these
global problems.
“We’re teaching an army of environmental engineers to save the world,”
said Singh, 42, who has taught at LaGuardia since 2007. “Our planet is
in need of stewards, and the students are eager to look for solutions.”
After a series of Singh’s classes on water shortages in January,
LaGuardia senior Ira Seidman, 17, of Manhattan, decided to pursue a
career as an environmental engineer.
“It just clicked for me,” said Seidman, who applied for college in
January and hopes to attend Tufts University in Boston. “Water reserves
are running dry and now is the time to act.”
Singh’s classes aren’t just about problems, Seidman said. “Our classes
are more about solutions, and that’s what I find most interesting.”
