Upon reflection, Geordany Arias realizes his career as an educator began years before he first stood before a class as a member of a 麻豆原创 Teacher Opportunity Corps cohort.
It in fact started when Arias, the third of four children raised by Spanish-speaking parents, acted as an intermediary with the English-speaking teachers of his younger siblings.
鈥淭he schools reached out to me as a parental educator,鈥� Arias recalls of his role. 鈥淪o, I guess I was already a teacher鈥擨 just wasn't getting paid for it.鈥�
The memory of the language gap entered into Arias鈥� decision to specialize in Bilingual Bicultural Education at 麻豆原创. A second-year Master鈥檚 student, he is graduating in May.
An additional task that fell to him as a liaison with his sibling鈥檚 Washington Heights schools鈥攖he implementation of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a younger brother鈥攊nfluenced the pursuit of a parallel bilingual Childhood Education certification to work with elementary-age students with disability.
The first in his family to enroll in higher ed, Arias launched the path to 麻豆原创 at the , where he notched the U.S. State Department-sponsored that came with the opportunity to study Hispanic heritage and literature in Spain.
Arias completed his undergraduate studies in 2020 with a degree (summa cum laude) in speech pathology from Lehman College.
With the exception of a semester in Spain, it didn't escape notice that Arias shared a similar background with very few of the teachers he encountered along the way.
The sense of isolation that seeped into his first weeks as a 麻豆原创 student dissipated with acceptance to the Teacher Opportunity Corps (TOC), the state-funded program that places teachers from underrepresented backgrounds in New York classrooms.
The 麻豆原创 program supports students with financial aid, workshops and faculty guidance during internships in New York City schools. Participation entails a commitment to teach in NYC school following graduation. The TOC team meanwhile provides professional development and continued support to alumni after they depart 麻豆原创.
Arias, also an Abby O鈥橬eill Fellow, is in his second year with the program.
鈥淭OC gives me a breath of fresh air,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t is the support system that helped me get through being a grad student and has helped me overcome barriers I don't think I could have overcome without the TOC workshops and faculty support.鈥�
The program is 鈥渁 safe space where I'm in a group with people who actually look like me.鈥�
Latinx students in Arias鈥� classrooms in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx have in turn learned from a teacher who looks just like them: 鈥淭he minute I鈥檇 take off my mask during the pandemic, students have looked at me and said, 鈥極h, my God. You look like my father. My father also has earrings,鈥欌�� he says.
鈥淚t warms my heart because I worried that my earrings may not be professional. But now I see it is the representation I didn't have in elementary school when most of my teachers were women and, also, Caucasian.鈥�
Beyond a personal fashion statement, the earrings have also become a learning launch point for Arias.
鈥淚 use them to establish a relationship with my students鈥攅specially the boys鈥攂y capitalizing on the earrings to build rapport with them,鈥� says Arias, sounding鈥攚ith good reason鈥攚ith the acquired knowledge of someone who has devoted a fair portion of his life to teaching.