By Yvette Moore
Hands-on learning and career exploration is the pedagogic theme at Bed-Stuy’s P.S. 5, the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary School. Currently the school offers music—woodwinds, violins, keyboards, African drumming— a dual language French program; STEM enrichment classes including coding, computer lab, virtual reality creation; visual arts, a student-run bookstore and a student-run restaurant, swimming, cooking, and more. Students have built and launched a rowboat.
The school also has a drone program, an aviation program, and its newest initiative, a global gardening network to teach student urban farmers how to grow their own food using AI and more.
Building community partnerships is how school principal Dr. Lena Gates makes all this happen. Several of the partners came to the school for the recent visit by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
Gregory Jackson of Alpha Drones, one of those partners, described what Dr. Gates is doing at P.S. 5 this way:
“Growing up when I was in school, we had home economics. I learned how to sew. I learned how to cook. I learned how to do wood shop. Some schools had mechanics, and they learned how to take care of cars. Somewhere down the line, all of that phased out. What you’re doing here is home economics 2.0. Because the world has changed.”
Alpha Drones volunteers teach students to operate drones, which are now used commercially in scores of industries from farming and agriculture to eco-friendly skyscraper cleaning, to film and cinematography, to public safety, to entertainment, and more.
“I met Ms. Gates in 2022, and her vision is just amazing,” said Capt. Paul M. Pierre, a pilot with American Airlines, a key partner in the school’s aviation program. “We came. The pilots came. We painted the classroom, and step by step, we have what you’ve seen today.”
The school’s aviation room has several flight simulators, drones, and pictures of the students visiting American Airlines facilities at LaGuardia Airport. Students come to the center for instruction and practice twice a week and sometimes during the school’s afterschool program.
Juan Hinojosa, managing director of global government affairs for American Airlines, said the aviation field needs the new generation of workers the school is helping to create.
“One of the things we care about in American Airlines is the aviation workforce. There have been shortages that have been impactful in the industry,” he said. “We need more pilots, and we need more mechanics. You don’t have enough pilots, and you don’t have enough mechanics; you can’t fly the aircraft. So, we talk a lot about inspiring folks to pursue a job in aviation by introducing it to them at an early age. What this school is doing has multiple layers of benefits because, hopefully, some of these students are going to want to become a pilot or a mechanic.”
Capt. Pierre explained that the pilot shortage is largely due to the 60-year-old mandatory retirement age. Many pilots come into the profession from the military. A significant number become pilots through civilian channels, but that route is very expensive, he said.
Dr. Gates said introducing children to a wide variety of career options at an early age is essential to help overcome such obstacles and free them to dream before they learn to fear.
“Our goal is to get into these industries,” Dr. Gates said. “We want to make sure our children have all the opportunities that they need to make their choices. There’s nothing they can’t do. You can be a doctor or a lawyer, and you can also be a plane pilot or a drone pilot.”
Or they can be urban farmers.
The students were wrapping up a Zoom call comparing notes with fellow student gardeners in Kenya through the One Planet Education Network, the day the Congressman visited. One Planet Education Network connects students from Kenya, Jamaica, Liberia, Namibia, and the United States as they learn cutting-edge technology to get more productive yields and healthier food on a planet facing impactful climate changes.
After the call, students escorted the visiting delegation to their “smart” outdoor school garden.
“We have peppers and tomatoes,” one second grader said.
They excitedly spoke over one another to explain that moisture sensor meters in the some of the garden plots send data to their class phones and computers to let them know when plants need water or other supplements. In their other garden plots, the students explained, they used regenerative gardening techniques that focuses on using organic material to enrich soil and address pests without harmful chemicals. The children pointed out the straw spread over their plots as an example of the technique.
“This makes our vegetables grow super big and healthy,” said another second grader.
Dr. Gates said it’s important to strengthen and expand these programs at P.S. 5.
“The only way we can fund these programs [through the Department of Education] is based on ‘funding availability.’ So, this is where we reach out to our community to help us be able to fund these programs,” Dr. Gates said. “Everyone has seen here today what these programs can do for our children.”
Yvette Moore is a YA writer and grandmother living in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is the author of novels Freedom Songs and its sequel Just Sketching, both available on Amazon.