Seniors at Brooklyn High School Read to Younger Students

Ever since she was young, Emily Peralta wanted to teach elementary school. Now a senior at Uncommon Leadership Charter High School in Cypress Hills, Peralta got a chance to read to a class of elementary students.

Only rather than sitting in a reading circle, Peralta read “I Got a New Friend,” by Karl Newsom Edwards remotely, giving her a sense of the challenges teachers face in the new world of online school. Peralta pulled it off with aplomb, showcasing a natural ability as a future teacher.

“I did it because I wanted to give back to the younger generation,” Peralta said. “I know I’m making other kids happy.”

The initiative was part of a senior year class project organized by the senior committee and students in the school’s National Honor Society. About a dozen students participated, recording themselves reading children’s books that will be shared with younger students in Uncommon’s elementary schools throughout Brooklyn.

“Uncommon Leadership Charter launched this initiative to provide our students the opportunity to deepen their connection with the greater Uncommon community, especially amidst the isolating experience of remote learning,” said Elisa Steele, a twelfth-grade leader who helped organize the event. “Our students really appreciated the space to collaborate and apply their creativity as they produced exciting and engage read aloud videos for our younger grades”

Uncommon, a high performing charter network, educates 10,000 students in 24 schools in Brooklyn, including four high schools. This year will be the first class at Leadership Charter High to graduate. Uncommon’s mission is to help students get into, succeed in and graduate from college.

Uncommon started the school year in late August remotely and students have had at least 36 hours of live instruction, access to office hours led by teachers along with daily community building lessons.

Peralta, 17, who has been accepted to Hofstra University and Pace University, is still considering becoming a teacher, though she has recently become interested in sociology and psychology.

When she first arrived at Uncommon’s Leadership Prep Ocean Hill Middle Academy in fifth grade, Peralta said she was shy and would have been uncomfortable in front of a camera.

“Uncommon has helped me break out of my shell in terms of becoming more outspoken,” said Peralta, who lives in Brownsville.

Peralta said her choice of book was completely random.

“I can’t leave the house so my father just went and picked up any book,” she said. “But I enjoyed reading it.”