We usually have to patrol dismissal time to meet large groups of students, so we’re always excited when teachers bring their classes to us. Today’s visitors: a group of high schoolers and their teacher from the Henry Street School for International Studies, a small high school on the Lower East Side.
If their teacher (in a blue shirt) looks familiar to readers, it’s because he’s Collin Lawrence, the author of a series in the Community section about four years working in a troubled Brooklyn high school. He landed at Henry Street after spending last year teaching English in China.
Henry Street doesn’t have an active newspaper club and students in the group said they aspire to become pharmacists, basketball players, forensic scientists, and photographers — not reporters. But we did our best to win them over to journalism, walking them through the fast pace and ever-changing challenges of a typical day at GothamSchools. We also talked about how strong reading, writing, and math skills can be useful in any profession.
Just a reminder: If you’ve got a journalism class or after-school club and want to come visit, let us know.