The Children at Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Bronx School

Manny Fernandez:

The hardwood floor was shiny yet scuffed, from the tiny chairs and desks that have rubbed against it for generations. The open windows let in a cool breeze. The pencil sharpener on the window sill sat at attention, as did Dorothy Faustini's fourth- and fifth-grade math students.

The problem on the chalkboard: What is 72,641 divided by 10?

Hands shot up, hands stayed down. "Do not be afraid of the big numbers," Ms. Faustini reminded the children.

Jacqueline Garcia, 8, sat at the front of the classroom, inside Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx on Wednesday morning. Math does not frighten her. She likes it, because she wants to be a doctor, and to be a doctor, she said, you have to learn math, science and reading.

One of Jacqueline's older schoolmates, Alicia Sylvester, 12, wants to go to Penn State University and learn to be a pharmacist. Another student, Alex Nunez, 10, is undecided on his career path, but he said it's a toss-up between a scientist and an astronaut.

"I can go to space and discover new planets and fix some satellites," Alex said.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 16, 2009 5:14 PM
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