Stephanie Rivera found her voice through advocating educational equity and urban school reform
At Egg Harbor Township High School, Stephanie Rivera didn’t like to raise her hand in class. “I feared sounding dumb,” she says. She received little encouragement to voice her opinions. It wasn’t until her sophomore year at Rutgers in an “Introduction to Education” class that she discovered her voice.
Shaken by an assigned reading about students who attend urban public schools with bullet holes in the windows, no cafeteria or heating, and sub-par bathroom facilities, Rivera felt compelled to speak up.
“I remember looking around (the classroom) and wondering, ‘Why isn’t everybody else as angry as I am?’” Rivera recalls.
Now a Rutgers junior in the School of Arts and Sciences, Rivera has dedicated herself to advocating for students. On April 16, she will vie for one of three open seats on the New Brunswick’s Board of Education as part of its first regular election in 20 years.
Her campaign is centered on making herself accessible to the community and taking stock of their concerns. “How I view it, I am not here to tell an entire community or students what they need,” says Rivera, who is 21.
“I want to hear their perspectives, what they want to see changed, and how, as board members, we can offer the most resources and opportunities as possible to be sure their concerns are addressed.”
Rivera believes her close ties with New Brunswick students and the Rutgers community and her knowledge of “town-gown relations” will resonate with voters.
“She knows how to create connections among students, faculty and the local community,” says Mary Elizabeth Curran, associate dean for local-global partnerships at the Graduate School of Education. “She is a natural leader.”
As a mentor for the Rutgers Future Scholars program – designed to expand educational opportunities for academically promising young students – Rivera knows firsthand the problems students face. Once a week after school Rivera volunteers with the program at New Brunswick High School, where she guides mentees and talks to them about problems in their community, ranging from gang violence to immigration issues, and how to address them. Rivera appreciates the perspective her students have provided her.
In January 2012, Rivera launched a blog, Teacher Under Construction, in the hopes of igniting the passion she feels about educational equality in others. She uses the blog, which has more than 2,000 followers, as a platform to discuss issues of segregation and racial inequalities in schools and to publicize student and teacher activism around the nation.
Rivera also founded a new Rutgers organization, the Future Teachers Association, to provide a network for students with a strong interest in teaching or issues in education. During meetings, members discuss current events and concerns in education, such as standardized testing and merit pay. The organization brings in guests speakers, engages in tutoring and mentoring programs, and hosts events, such as school supply donation drives and book drives.
Curran, the club’s faculty advisor, says the group allows undergraduates to think about teaching in an extracurricular way, outside of traditional classes, especially important, she says, because of the “high stakes” educators face today. “We need to find ways to raise the status of teachers and the teaching profession and encourage young people to go into the field, and the organization is focused on this as well,” Curran says.
Rivera, a political science major, will begin a master’s program at the Graduate School of Education in the fall and hopes to become an Urban Teaching Fellow. Her dream job? To teach government and politics or history at New Brunswick High School.
Win or lose, Rivera says her determination to bring justice to the New Brunswick community and youth will only continue to grow. “Whether I am a board member, a student, or a teacher, my passion for educational equity cannot and will not stop until every student has access to their civil right of a quality education,” she says.