From ‘barely reading’ to Google: Successes of NYC charter school alum

New York City’s charter schools have lifted the fortunes of thousands of schoolkids, leading talking with those most closely involved in the system — including these alumni who credit charters for their success.

New York City’s 276 charter schools are in it for the long haul.

Ever since the state’s publicly funded, privately run schools began opening in 1999, the ranks of their alumni have grown — and many are now building networks to benefit students long after they graduate.

“We made a promise to our students that we are together with them and their families, committed to building a more just world,” said Maria Alcón-Heraux of the KIPP Foundation, which links hundreds of charter schools nationwide. “And that goes far beyond the high school years. We make sure that we support every student, not just those who go to college.”

Here, six local alumni explain how their charter schools helped them learn, grow and excel.

From ‘barely reading’ to Google: Emeka Kanu

KIPP Academy Middle School, Bronx
Class of 2003

“Before I went to KIPP I could barely read,” said Emeka Kanu, 33. “I would never be where I am today without it.”

After five years at the dispiriting public school near their South Bronx home, Kanu’s mother, an immigrant from Nigeria, sought an alternative for her bright but drifting son in middle school.

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“At KIPP, academic success was publicly celebrated,” Kanu told The Post. “If you have really talented and invigorated teachers telling you ‘You can do this, you belong here,’ that becomes subconsciously built into you. It provides you with the confidence to go out there in the world.”

Kanu soared at KIPP, but the network had no New York City high schools at the time. Instead, administrators helped him win a scholarship to a tony Massachusetts boarding school, and he went on to Trinity College and to Dartmouth, where he earned an MBA.

After two years working in the Mississippi Delta with Teach for America, Kanu began a successful career as a consultant with Deloitte in Chicago and Google in New York.

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“I did strategy and operations for global partnerships,” he explained. “Big-picture stuff.”

Kanu also helped establish KIPP’s national alumni leadership accelerator, and is frequently tapped as a mentor for current students.

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Today, he’s planning his own New York City-based start-up, a business that will “improve workforce wellness and engagement through arts and culture access.”

“When I was a little kid in the South Bronx, I would have never imagined my life could have turned out like this,” Kanu said. “KIPP was the launching pad.”

Graduated high school with an associate’s degree: Brittany Cesareo

Lavelle Preparatory Charter School, Staten Island
Class of 2017

Brittany Cesareo was a reluctant 11-year-old when her mother enrolled her in Staten Island’s first charter school.

“She really pushed me,” Cesareo recalled. “It was always her goal for me to go to college, because she didn’t finish herself.”

Lavelle Preparatory Charter School opened in 2009 as a combined middle/high school offering a college prep curriculum to both special-needs and general-education students in fully integrated classrooms.

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“It was a tight bond,” said Cesareo, now 23. “Instead of having 30 kids in a classroom, we had 18. And there were always two teachers there, one gen ed and one special ed.”

The experience was eye-opening.

“Kids can be mean, but in an integrated classroom you see the differences as well as the similarities,” Cesareo said. “All of us got the same attention and help.”

Cesareo accomplished the educational goal her mother set, and then some.

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“I graduated high school with an associate’s degree in medical assisting,” she said. “By the time I was 18, I could have been a phlebotomist or an EKG technician.”

Instead, she headed to CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in human services and community justice. She’s currently applying to master’s programs in social work while working full-time at a preschool for children with special needs.

“It’s basically helping the parents with enrollment and any other issues,” she said. “It definitely helps knowing how to validate what they’re feeling and help find a solution. Lavelle taught me that compassion.”

Still getting help from their charter: Cynthia Estevez and José Estevez

MESA Charter High School, Brooklyn
Class of 2020 and Class of 2018

“I love MESA so much,” said Cynthia Estevez, a bubbly 21-year-old originally from Bushwick. “The administration, they do not want to see kids fail.”

Cynthia and her brother José, now 23, both formed strong bonds with advisors and teachers at MESA — and when the siblings each hit roadblocks that upended their college plans, the school was there to help, said MESA founding co-director Arthur Samuels.

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“This past year we launched a full-scale alumni support program called the 13th Grade,” Samuels said. “We’re expanding our focus to help our kids build sustainable, satisfying careers.”

Cynthia — who still gushes about the “amazing experience” MESA gave her on a month-long fully-funded service trip to Tanzania in 2019 — quit college in frustration over the pandemic-era learning restrictions imposed at SUNY Oswego. Once back home, Samuels helped her land a spot in an IT training program, where she shone.

Today, she’s a full-time device technician at CTS, a company that handles IT equipment for many of the city’s charter schools, while working on her bachelor’s degree.

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“My passion is digital marketing,” she said. “I don’t see this as a job. I see it as an opportunity to learn.”

José said he “couldn’t find my true calling” when he first enrolled at Queensborough Community College in 2018. “I had to balance school and work and I found it really difficult,” he said. “My grades started to go under.” Like 76% of his fellow Queensborough students, he dropped out.

This year, MESA connected him with a banking internship through YearUp, a national tuition-free training program. “We’re learning office norms, banking terms, customer service skills,” José said. “I’ve met managers from Chase, Bank of America, and others to build connections. Now, I hope to make it a career.”

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In December, the brother-sister duo moved into their own Manhattan apartment.

“It’s a big step,” José said. “I feel like it changed my whole mindset. I’m more determined now — I really have to step up my game. But it’s a good place to be.”

On his way to being a sports journalist: Erick Martinez

Inwood Academy for Leadership, Manhattan
Class of 2021

Erick Martinez credits his budding sports journalism career to the endlessly supportive staff and teachers at Inwood Academy for Leadership in upper Manhattan.

“They are always there for me. I can always call,” said the 20-year-old City College junior. “Inwood has helped me put myself out there and search for opportunities.”

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Martinez honed his resume with an assist from the school’s full-time alumni success manager, helping him land a videography internship with the BronxNet cable channel.

“I’m doing on-set videos, filming their TV shows,” he explained. “I’m also going out with reporters and operating the camera as they do interviews, then getting behind-the-scenes shots as well.”

The hands-on experience is invaluable. “They’re giving me the freedom to film what I want, as long as it fits the criteria of the story,” he said. “When I see my work out there, it feels great, like, ‘Wow, I’m really doing something here.’”

Martinez, the oldest of four, grew up in upper Manhattan and started at Inwood’s middle school as a fifth-grader, remaining with the charter through high school. All three of his siblings are following in his footsteps.

“My parents are really happy with it,” he said. “It’s a family.”

Now enrolled at Howard University: Keisha Marcellin

Uncommon Charter High School, Brooklyn
Class of 2022

Halfway through her freshman year as an honors student at prestigious Howard University in Washington, DC, Keisha Marcellin is realizing the full value of the long hours she spent at Brooklyn’s Uncommon charter schools from first through twelfth grade.

“The quality of our education really set us up,” she said. “The stuff we were learning in high school is exactly the same material I’m being taught here at Howard. When they said they were trying to prepare us for college, they really meant it.”

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Marcellin, who grew up in Brownsville, was among Uncommon’s first New York City class. As a child she chafed at its lengthy school day, with a 4 p.m. dismissal.

“But it meant we had more learning time,” she said. “And eventually I actually appreciated it. You get to chill with the teachers and get close to them.”

The avid tennis player plans to carry her major in “human performance” — the university’s term for exercise science — into a career as a sports medicine physician.

“I’m definitely preparing for medical school,” she said. “There’s a lot of history at Howard and the alumni are well-connected. I think it can set me up for success.”

“College throws you challenges you don’t get in high school,” she reflected. “But the skills Uncommon taught me — how to get back on track, how to stay organized — have really helped me out.”