Dear Ms. Tina: Reflections on an email from an Alumna, Class of 2012

Hi Ms. Tina!

I miss you so much! I'm sorry that I haven't been in touch. Over winter break I had an internship and had to rush back to school, but I would like to let you know that I got accepted into The School For Field Studies! I'm going to Bhutan to work in the Himalayan forests for a month in the summer. (http://www.fieldstudies.org/bhutan) I can't thank you enough for writing me a letter of recommendation. I really appreciate you and think about you and New Roots often. Please tell everyone I said hello and I promise I'll see you soon.

Sincerely and with Love,

Niaome Hickman
Wells College sophmore and scholarship recipient
New Roots Class of 2012

Dear Niaome,

Wow, I am so, so excited about your internship!  What an incredible experience to spend a whole month in Bhutan.  The School for Field Studies is lucky to have you.  I can’t wait to hear about your good work and learning.

This latest adventure of yours makes me think about how many times I’ve admired your courage in taking risks and venturing into unknown territory – beginning with your decision to be a founding student at New Roots.  Another was when you stepped into the spotlight to speak about your New Roots experience to the Ithaca City School District Board of Education two years ago.  You were really, really nervous – and so brave to speak what was in your heart and mind!  I have thought of you in those moments when my own heart is pounding and my voice is shaking, and follow your lead.

I can’t wait to see you in person – be sure to let me know when you’re in town.

Yours, 

Ms. Tina

Hearing from Niaome inspired many reflections on these past five years of growing New Roots as principal to the diverse community of young people that make this school such a vibrant, creative, powerful place to spend my days.

Niaome was one of our very first students, a true school founder that joined us on a leap of faith after attending an information night session in Spring 2009 and never looked back. Niaome took advantage of every opportunity New Roots offered to engage with and serve her school and the wider community.  An active founding member of our Student Council, she embraced a wide variety of experiences while at New Roots, from singing solo parts in our choral performance at Ithaca Festival and meeting Dr. Dorothy Cotton while representing our school at a Building Bridges conference, to service and advocacy trips to our state capitol and New Orleans, to extending a personal invitation to Mayor Myrick to be the commencement speaker at our very first graduation (see photos)!  One of our very first graduates, she was honored with a Beverly J. Martin scholarship award in recognition of her academic achievement and service to others.

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to see Niaome and her peers grow and develop through experiences like these – and to see New Roots grow and develop through her initiative.  I am grateful for the many contributions that our founding students made to prepare the ground for our fine young high school to “take root” here in Ithaca. . . creating the school that was just honored by the State University of New York with a renewal of our charter! 

 

Rereading Niaome’s statement to the Ithaca City School District Board of Education inspires additional reflections.  I am reminded that she had the tenacity to take the Algebra Regents exam again and again until she was successful – six times!!  “Student performance data” truly doesn’t tell the whole story in any given year. . . I think it’s wise that the State University of New York looks at what happens over the course of four years.  The other is remembering Niaome’s courage in offering a response to Mr. Harris’s question about how the ICSD and the community can benefit from New Roots Charter School as part of our public educational system here in Ithaca.  I have printed her statement below so that you can hear her thoughts in her own words.

It is a deeply moving experience to watch young people grow and develop into adults who are realizing their full potential -- and to know that I have played a supporting role in creating a rich learning environment for them to grow in through the turbulent years of adolescence.  My gratitude for the opportunity to do this work has been a powerful source of inspiration and energy that has sustained me through many an unexpected twist and turn in this journey.  And fortunately for me, in our school community of over 150 teenagers, inspiration of this sort an abundant renewable natural resource.

Statement to the Ithaca City School District Board of Education

Naiome Hickman, Class of 2012

February 14, 2012

Mr. [Eldred] Harris asked how the Ithaca City School District and the community can benefit from New Roots.  We’d like to talk about experiences as New Roots students that have changed our lives.

I’m Niaome, a senior at New Roots Charter School. I’ve been at New Roots since the very first year. I’m originally from Candor High School. Even though Candor was good academically, I found the social and community environment to be very unsupportive. I found that Candor was segregated based on income, academics and race, and I never felt that I fit there. Each day I went to school there, even though I didn’t want to go.

I heard about New Roots from a friend’s mom before it opened and enrolled, along with two friends. I met the Principal and others who founded the school and just knew it was the place for me. The warmth of the staff, the commitment to sustainability, the close-knit community and acceptance that I felt were so different from what I had experienced before. These elements have made this a place where I have grown in ways I didn’t know I could. I have been a Student Council member, done internships at Planned Parenthood and Green Star Cooperative Market, shown my artwork at local galleries and sold it at local markets. I passed the Algebra Regents on my 6^th try, after hard work with my dedicated teachers!

I have had many opportunities to develop my skills as a community activist and voice for my school on issues of social justice and sustainability that concern me. Examples of this are participating in the recent Building Bridges community conversations, meeting with lawmakers in the state capital to discuss the issue of educational choice, traveling to New Orleans to aid with Katrina recovery efforts, and so many more.

I don’t know what I’d do without my school. At New Roots I know that I am valued by my teachers and peers, which I had not felt before. I am viewed as an equal, as someone who is capable, intelligent and an important member of the community. 

I know from my own experience and from my conversations with other students that this school has changed our lives.

As some of us like to say, “We tried, we are trying, we are succeeding. I do it for myself and for my school.”