Nadia Lopez, Award-winning Educator | MAKERS Profile

Nadia Lopez, Award-winning Educator | MAKERS Profile

Video Transcript

NADIA LOPEZ: For those who open up schools, we are very intent on how do we disrupt what the status quo says. And for me, it was about opening a school to close a prison.

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I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and I was an only child. And so I was a latchkey kid. There was a time when just leaving your house, you didn't know if you were going to make it back, and crack was real, and gangs were real. My mom knew that education was important, and so my teachers became an extended family member. My mom had phone numbers to all of them all the way through high school.

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What I learned was in every marginalized community where Black and Brown children exist, it's the same issues. It's the same challenges. There's leaders who believe that they are part of a superhero team and that they can change the trajectory of the lives of children. And that, for me, was just enough to say I want to open up a school. And I want it to be STEM focused. I wanted kids to understand that, especially as children of color, we are the ones who created these disciplines, and that it exists all around you. And I just started writing, and I got a team together, and we became my proposal team.

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It wasn't approved, and that was fine, because I prayed to God, and I said, don't give me something I'm not ready for. There was things I needed to learn, and so I became an assistant principal in Brownsville. And working there, I got to really realize how this community was intentionally disenfranchised, and that even though they were children, they were taught to believe that they were nothing, and their parents were taught to believe the same thing.

And I remember closing my eyes, and then my phone rang. Someone on the other line was like, is this Nadia Lopez? And I was like, yes. Congratulations. We'd like to let you know that you have been approved for your school.

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I created a school where I wanted children to feel safe. I wanted them to know that they were worthy. I wanted them to know that who they were in terms of young Black and Brown children had such significance. And I wanted them to defy the odds.

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I said, President Obama, as much as I love this opportunity, I need Vidal to sit in your seat. And he was like, you want him to sit in my seat? I said, I mean, I really feel like it's important for a young person to know what it feels like.

This idea of if you see it, you can be it, if we inspire them they'll aspire came from, what I was given as a student in a school. It was a beacon of hope. It was a place where they felt like human beings. They could finally be children who didn't have to worry about harm from an adult or being ridiculed because of their identity.

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I want to redefine what leadership looks like, based off of sustainability. How do you ensure that you're taking care of yourselves in order to do this work? And so I love sharing my story to empower educators in the space, the leaders and the space.

We have been given a gift to be in front of children, to educate them. And if we want something better, we have to set the example as well. Each and every one of us has to be the makers for the brighter future of tomorrow.

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