Project Description
Uchechukwu Njoku, Fellow
John Jay School For Law
Brooklyn, NY
Uchechukwu Lawrence Njoku relocated from Los Angeles, California in 2005 to be a New York City Teaching Fellow. Originally intending to only serve the program’s two year commitment as a special education teacher in the Bronx, Uche has since taught in and led public urban schools for the past 16 years. Currently the principal of John Jay School for Law in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Uche is also the former principal of the School of Mathematics Science and Technology Through Arts (MSTA), a Kennedy Center Turnaround Arts School, in the Bronx. Prior to being a principal, he served as an assistant principal at Bronx Early College Academy and Lewis E Rowe Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2008 Uche was an Ally in the Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished Principals, after which he went on to earn a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership from the Summer Principals Academy at Teachers College, Columbia University. The basis of Uche’s educational leadership philosophy is that high expectations improve student performance. He believes that regardless of a student’s starting point or circumstance, educators must be cautious in not allowing empathy to become sympathy and ultimately pity. Lowered expectations resulting from pity is a destructive influence on students’ outcomes. Uche is the creator and host of The Sneaker Principal Podcast, a platform to explore the crossroads between education and culture.
Shomari Akil, Ally
Assistant Principal
John Jay School For Law
Brooklyn, NY
Shomari Akil is currently an Assistant Principal at John Jay School for Law, where his primary responsibilities are to oversee the Humanities and create and implement a solid SEL program rooted in restorative practices. In 2014, he presented workshops at the National Alliance of Black School Educators in Kansas City, Kansas, Colorado State University, West Chester Association of Black School Educators, and various organizations in the New York area. In his current role, he is responsible for training administrative staff, which includes assistant principals, principals, assistant superintendents, and superintendents in restorative practices. Shomari has been a high school social studies teacher, dean of students, attendance coordinator, Director of Student Services, and a high school principal in both urban and suburban school districts. Prior to becoming an educator, Shomari supervised adolescents placed in group homes in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens, and Brooklyn. He credits this professional experience with opening his eyes to the importance of social and emotional learning and the need for providing a holistic learning experience for young people. Shomari has done extensive work with dismantling the school to prison pipeline by supporting students’, families’, and school leaders’ various initiatives to decrease out of school and in school suspensions. Shomari believes that students succeed when they are in the care of loving adults who provide meaningful academic and social learning experiences for them daily.