2016-2017 Blackboard Awards Honoree: Dr. Nadia L. Lopez Of Mott Hall Bridges Academy

Editor’s note: To read profiles of all 2016-2017 Blackboard Awards honorees, click HERE! Plus: Scroll down for video from the Awards.

Mott Hall Bridges Academy
Principal: Dr. Nadia L. Lopez
6-8
210 Chester Street, Brooklyn
Award: Outstanding School Leader

Describe your school’s core educational philosophy.

Mott Hall Bridges Academy is a STEAM-focused school that has a philosophy that every child can learn if they are provided with a nurturing, safe, and academically rigorous environment with caring adults.

Tell us about a few of the school’s achievements or distinguishing programs.

Our students go to high schools that include competitive college preparatory school such as Brooklyn College Academy, Medgar Evers College Preparatory School, Pace University High School, High School of Art and Design, and Brooklyn High School of the Arts. Our STEAM-focused school seeks to prepare our students with a variety of courses that expose them to the careers and industries that are underrepresented by people of color, including robotics, coding, culinary arts, videography, music production, and entrepreneurship. With the $1.4 million donated from the Humans of New York campaign, we have been able to send our students to Harvard, SUNY and CUNY schools, historically black colleges and universities, Yale, and Wagner College.

nadia-lopez — Photos by Daniel S. Burnstein

What’s new?

We have achieved more than 90 percent on every indicator of our learning environment survey that is above the district and city average, our secretary and guidance counselor have been selected and recognized as NYCDOE Employees of the Year, and our flag football team is Brooklyn Borough Champions!

What do you love about your school?

What I love about Mott Hall Bridges Academy is that it is the true sense of resilience and a reflection of Brownsville’s brilliance. When I opened the school, there was a lot of internal and external opposition from the Department of Education and the community we served. But the lack of funding never deterred the vision of providing children with a quality education and the access they deserve. It allowed my team and me to become resourceful by leveraging relationships and teaching our community the importance of becoming the village. Every day I wake up with gratitude that I was chosen to lead children who are beautiful, extraordinary, and worthy, all they require are adults who will encourage and inspire them to be there very best and provide them with the tools that will offer a pathway to success.

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