Adelphi University students Nuvia Velasquez and Jennifer Godinho are going back to their roots as they finish up their education. Velasquez and Godinho are both Mineola graduates. They are now on the path to becoming teachers and are doing so by student teaching in the same district they grew up in, at Hampton Street School.
Godinho started her education at Hampton Street and Velasquez started at Jackson Avenue, which was formally a kindergarten through fifth-grade building. Godinho is student teaching in the same building she used to walk the halls as a child and with some of the same teachers. Velasquez is working side-by-side her former kindergarten teacher turned mentor, Nancy Ekloff, who now works at Hampton Street.
“Hampton Street School is where my love of learning first began. As I grew up, I wanted to be just like the teachers who made me love learning,” said Godinho. “The opportunity to student teach in the same schools where my love of learning grew is an amazing full-circle experience.”
Godinho and Velasquez say their education and positive experience in the Mineola Union Free School District is what inspired them to want to be teachers.
“I hope one day my future students remember me in the same way I always remember and honor my teachers at Mineola. I am forever grateful to have this opportunity,” said Velasquez.
Godinho and Velasquez will be student teaching at Hampton until winter break later this month. The district is happy to have them back and wishes them the best of luck as they pursue teaching and finish their education.
Photos courtesy of the Mineola Union Free School District
