What does My Brother's Keeper mean to you?

My Brother's Keeper is a way to pay it forward. In my career, I have had male educators mentor and guide me along this journey, and this has contributed to my overall success as a leader. It's my job as an MBK leader to pay that forward.

Tell us about a mentor who played an influential role in your life.

Former Yonkers Superintendent Dr. Edwin M. Quezada was a mentor in my life who helped shape who I am as a school leader. Dr. Quezada believed in me when many did not. As a young person, he encouraged me to educate myself and further my higher education. Dr. Quezada relentlessly pushed me and encouraged me to be an upstanding citizen and to find time to contribute to my community. These important lessons are woven into the fabric of my life.

As the new principal of William Boyce Thompson, what is your vision for your school's MBK program?

Our MBK chapter at Boyce Thompson School seamlessly supports the school's goals for all students. One of our school goals is to reduce the number of chronically absent students. Through MBK, we can educate our young scholars about the importance of being in school daily. Chapter meetings are an opportunity for our young men to learn how chronic absenteeism impacts student learning.

Our brothers could start an MBK Buddy System to hold each other accountable and look out for their buddy daily. It is also a way to grow our chapter when each brother is encouraged to buddy up with a young man who is not yet a member.

We can adapt the Yonkers MBK Each One-Reach One high school mentoring program for our school. Reducing chronic absenteeism will have a profound positive impact on supporting MBK Milestone 2 - to ensure our young scholars are reading at grade level by Grade 3. Our Boyce Thompson school community will focus on our school's data so that we are proactive rather than reactive when it comes to the learning challenges of our scholars.

We are focused on engaging our PreK-2 families to meet this goal by targeting chronic absenteeism and offering strategies for families to use to increase vocabulary skills at a young age. This is another opportunity for our MBK brothers to learn leadership skills and responsibility. By expanding the Buddy System to include a Pre-K-2 student who the MBK brother would regularly read to, the young student's vocabulary would increase.

This has the potential to dramatically increase the number of young men of color reading proficiently by grade 3.