Dear familia,

On March 3rd, I served on a panel with Tacombi restaurant group's Susana Camarena (who I wrote about previously) and The New Yorker's Jonathan Blitzer, expertly moderated by PIX11's Monica Morales. We discussed how our and other organizations have been helping the NYC community, including immigrant families, during the pandemic, the challenges and what lasting positive changes may result.

At one point, Blitzer discussed public policy. "We know what we want, we know what we need. We know what's required to protect people and be a more inclusive society, to provide basic services to immigrants and their families...but you always hit the same wall with these subjects in covering them, which is: What's the political reality?"

As hard-working and resilient as ADS families are, the pandemic has revealed their vulnerabilities: as frontline workers required to go in to work; as living in tight quarters with extended family and so particularly susceptible to a virus; as restricted by language in their access to the best health information.

Towards the end of the panel, I discussed higher education as the path to greater control over one's financial, physical and psychological wellbeing--one's destiny. I noted this can also have implications for others' destinies, should our graduates venture into public service.

It is an extraordinarily exciting time at ADS, as our college acceptance list continues to grow. For our first-generation-to-college senior class, every acceptance is a path to greater control over their and their families' destinies.

Happy spring holidays,

Melissa Melkonian
Founder and Head of School
ADS Recognized as "Making History"
On March 3rd, PIX11 featured ADS Founder and Head of School Melissa Melkonian, Middle School Director Beatriz Bañuelos and High School Director Glory Carrion-Gomes in a primetime segment entitled "Bronx Educator Making History as Founder of School to Empower Immigrant Community."
On March 25th, PIX11 featured Melkonian on a live show entitled "NYC's Female Trailblazers." Hosted by Monica Morales, the conversation also included the founder of community-based organization Elite Learners, Inc., and a college student who rallied 350 3D printer-owners to produce personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
Faculty Spotlight: Niki DeGiorgio, 6th Grade Teacher
Sixth Grade Teacher Niki DeGiorgio has never met her current students or their families in-person, owing to the pandemic and its being the students’ first year at ADS. Yet earlier this year, she did not hesitate to contact the father of a struggling student, who explained his child was suffering for lack of social interaction. DeGiorgio organized for the student to attend online classes from the “Eagle’s Nest,” a large, open space on campus where students can safely participate in remote-learning. The student has since excelled.

“As a small, independent charter school, I think ADS does not bring the ‘no excuses’ philosophy that too-often fails children in the inner-city,” says DeGiorgio. "We are trying to find ways to support students regardless of their race, ethnicity, where they come from or their economic status.” 

Both of DeGiorgio’s parents were born and raised in the Bronx, her father two blocks from ADS’s current location. They raised DeGiorgio in Connecticut, where her mother became a Montessori teacher so that her children could attend the school, and started a Head Start program for local children who did not have stable housing. DeGiorgio’s father owned a seafood market in the Bronx, where he employed formerly incarcerated men. “He made it his mission to provide them with opportunities others would not have given them, to help them create a purposeful, economically stable future,” she says.

Early in her career, DeGiorgio spent five years as a Family Advocate with a Connecticut charter school, supporting students’ home life in order to set them up for success in the classroom. She has taught at ADS since it opened seven years ago.

“I like that, with each year, we’re trying to both grow and evolve,” says DeGiorgio. “That should be the example we set for our students. My ADS experience has shown me that every opportunity is one you can use to grow: Fail, take the risks, make the choices and then change if you need to. We’re in a constant phase of evolution for the better.”

DeGiorgio looks forward to ADS’s first-ever Commencement on June 26th. “I’ve had the privilege of watching these kids grow up from 10-years-old to 18. Seeing them graduate, celebrating their success will be amazing.”
Our Mission: The American Dream School develops academic excellence in both Spanish and English for grades 6-12, preparing students to excel in college and become leaders in their communities.