Dear familia,

I don't know that there has ever been a more critical time for adaptability in education. In August, we welcomed back to classrooms students whose socio-emotional development paused 18 months earlier. For example, we have ninth graders who must navigate high school even as they relearn how to navigate in-person classroom and peer dynamics they haven't experienced since seventh grade. Some are dealing with trauma and loss, numbering among the 140,000 children in the U.S. who have lost a parent or caregiver to the pandemic.

But there is hope, and not only hope but progress. On Tuesday, November 9th at 7:00pm, I will serve along with two other charter leaders on a virtual panel hosted by the Harvard Business School Club of New York. We will discuss our schools' models and approaches, key challenges and opportunities. The event is open to The American Dream School community and free to attend. You can register here.

Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween,

Melissa Melkonian
Founder and Head of School
Photo of the Month: High School Chemistry Class
Alumna Spotlight: Amelia Gonzalez (ADS '21)
(Left to right: Amelia Gonzalez in 10th grade and as a college freshman)
Amelia Gonzalez’s (ADS ‘21) first week of college wasn’t an easy one. But neither was her first week at The American Dream School.

Amelia bounced between middle schools as her family moved from the south Bronx to Brooklyn and back again, so when it came time for ninth grade and her parents enrolled her at American Dream, she viewed it as yet another “new” school. She didn’t have her uniform during the first week and was dismayed to learn school let out at 4:00pm. However, she quickly came to appreciate the personal attention and sense of family. In tenth grade, she joined the cheerleading squad, by which point she felt fully at home.

As she entered her senior year at American Dream, Amelia knew she wanted to go away for college, even though she would be the first in her family to attend college and it would be her first time away from her parents. When she learned about Alfred State College, she says, “I felt I was meant to be at this school. I read that it was a small school and that was what I wanted.” She was accepted into Alfred State’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and enrolled, inspiring her older sister to begin her own college career.

Amelia’s first week was challenging as she subsisted on snack foods and battled homesickness, but she soon made friends and successfully tried out for the cheer squad. And her former teachers have already visited. “They always ask me if I need something and will come all the way over here if I do. ADS becomes your family,” she says.

Amelia's career path is being shaped by her desire to alleviate the homelessness and poverty she has seen in New York City and in the Dominican Republic, where her parents are from. She is pursuing a major in Human Services Management with the goal of working as a therapist in a school or hospital setting.
Faculty Spotlight: Audrey Lee
Seventh Grade Humanities Teacher and Team Leader
Audrey Lee is no stranger to navigating languages and cultures. Lee was born and raised in Brazil by Taiwanese-immigrant parents and attended a bilingual English-Portuguese School while learning Mandarin at home. She visited Taiwan for the first time at age 18 when she chose to go there for college. After college, she returned to Brazil to work for a telecommunications conglomerate before pursuing a career in education in the United States, earning her Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

For the past seven years, Lee has taught Seventh Grade Humanities and also now serves as the grade's team leader. She led American Dream's after-school Glee Club, which performed at the United Nations for UNICEF’s World Children’s Day. The students were required to attend a weekend-long rehearsal, and American Dream staff volunteered their time to chaperone so the students could participate. 

As another example of American Dream School culture, Lee recalls overhearing colleagues in the faculty lounge discussing how they could support an American Dream family whose mother was very sick with cancer. The mother eventually passed away and the faculty attended the wake and raised money for the family. “Showing this amount of love and care for the students isn’t normal. The level of commitment we have to them and the lengths we’re willing to go to are extraordinary.”

American Dream’s mission-driven and collegial atmosphere and its students keep Lee coming back. “I love when you hear what kids have to say and you have that moment of surprise, thinking, ‘Oh, you’ve thought of that.’ Seventh graders have all of these emotions and struggles and the feeling and thinking they show sometimes is really incredible, it’s inspiring.”
Call for Dream Higher (Ed) Advisory Board Candidates!
The American Dream School's Dream Higher (Ed) Advisory Board is expanding and seeking additional volunteer leaders! The mission of the advisory board is "To support the preparedness of American Dream School 11th and 12th grade students to attend and succeed in higher education." Advisory board members gain special updates from school leadership and together create meaningful professional and personal development opportunities for ADS students and alumni, nearly all of whom are first-generation-American and first in their families to attend college.

We ask that interested candidates e-mail Robbie Brenner and please include "Advisory Board" in the subject line.
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.