Introduction to a Life-Changing Experience
After school one day in seventh grade, a man followed us. His right hand was at his waistband, concealed behind the loose fabric of his baggy yellow shirt. Was it a gun? Classes had just gotten out at Finkl elementary on the Lower West Side, and students were spilling out into the neighborhood on their way home. “Which one of you is —?” the man shouted as he approached us, naming a boy who was walking a few steps ahead of me. I’d heard his family had gang ties, but he was a friend. We loved the same soccer team.
The Reality of Growing Up in Little Village
The boy and a few others took off running. But I kept walking. I was afraid if I ran, the stranger would think I was affiliated, too. He didn’t chase after the boys and instead turned around and walked away. I’ve always wondered whether I’d just been lucky. There were other close calls growing up in Little Village in the ‘90s and 2000s, tiptoeing around pockets of conflict. But there were also sanctuaries. Finkl was one — thanks to a dedicated corps of teachers and staff who did what they could to protect us and keep us moving forward.
The Impact of Dedicated Educators
They changed my life. I caught up with some of them recently, 20 years after graduation. They had one more lesson to teach me —that guiding children through school requires community. It requires investment. Setting kids on the right path is everyone’s job. “It takes a village,” they told me. It was Finkl counselor Lourdes Roberts who connected me with the Daniel Murphy Scholarship that sent me to boarding school in California. She helped me through the application process and made sure I made the deadlines.
A Team Effort in Education
Maura Landers was my homeroom teacher at Finkl for seventh and most of eighth grade. She stoked my enthusiasm for learning. She’d drive me to important scholarship meetings after school when my mom worked long hours. All my teachers there pitched in. They sent me West with a little spending money in my pocket.
Maura Landers seated at her desk at Arizona College Prep.
Leadership and Community Involvement
And at the helm was Principal Susan Jensen, who was dogged in scrounging resources for her students. She often paid for necessities. I hauled my meager belongings to high school and later college in a blue and tan Tommy Hilfiger bag she bought me. “I used to tell people a principal’s job, on the best day of your life, is still an impossible job,” Jensen said recently. “You have such a huge responsibility. You feel responsible for every single student in that school.” And because of the dangers of the neighborhood, that sense of responsibility extended beyond the classroom.
Creating a Safe Haven
“The biggest issue in that area was obviously outside the school, the outside life, and the number of gangs in the neighborhood,” Jensen said. “Every single year that the school was open, there was one eighth grader shot and killed either right after graduation or a year or two after. It was a travesty.” The staff worked together to cocoon students. Jensen, the security guard and other staff members would often walk students home. If they got wind of trouble, they’d visit parents.
William F. Finkl Academy on the Lower West Side. Emmanuel Camarillo/Sun-Times
Academic Excellence and Beyond
“The goal was to get you out of the environment and put you in a safe place and see what you are capable of,” Landers said. They could do that through academics. The leaders weren’t afraid to change curriculum — or staff — if it wasn’t working, Jensen said. They invested in a top-notch science lab and made sure the computer lab was modernized. “It’s about seeking out the best people you can for the job and giving them what they need to do their job,” Jensen said.
Success Stories and Challenges
And they succeeded. Not just with me. All but one student in the class that followed mine attended high schools other than their neighborhood school, Jensen said. They had similar triumphs with other kids. They still hear from some of them. But there were also those who went astray, often due to circumstances out of their control. All three educators remember them, too. “We want to help everybody, but you realize quickly that you’re going to get some, and you’re really not going to reach everybody,” Landers said. “You just hope that somebody will reach that child at some point. You do the best you can.”
Conclusion
Tackling systemic problems requires a multifaceted approach, they said. Parents and schools should function in tandem to support each other. Class sizes should be smaller. Social media should be monitored. Teachers need to be prepared for their roles and be better paid. All three women moved on from Finkl years ago but still work in education in some way or another. Their schools are lucky to have them. And so was I. Because, really, this was just an excuse to finally reach out and thank them for caring. For
