Former deli salesman is now pitching science
Staten Island Advance - Sunday, April 30, 2006
He learned his 1, 2, 3s and -- with greater
difficulty -- his A, B, Cs, in Staten Island public schools, but
Deric Borrero says he gained his most important life lessons in
Danny's Deli, his dad's grocery store in Brooklyn's Fort Greene
section.
"I learned how to judge people behind my father's counter," said
Borrero, one of eight children born to first-generation immigrants
from Puerto Rico.
His family also helped him overcome dyslexia in order to learn the
nuts and bolts of life.
"I was always very inquisitive about how things would work," said
Borrero, who has since flipped his love of learning into a love of
teaching at Laurie Intermediate School (IS 72) in New Springville.
"[My parents] always took the time out to show me things."
With time, the former salesman behind the counter became the
salesman in the classroom, pitching science instead of soft drinks.
It's one of the qualities that made him a winner of an Excellence in
Education Award.
"We can travel the world without ever leaving the classroom," said
Borrero, who has been teaching life science at Laurie Intermediate
for the past four years, and whose first objective is often knocking
down the natural barriers of resistance erected by students.
"He doesn't like to do regular 'take out your textbook, turn the
page and sit down' [lessons]," said Laurel Haim, a former student
who is currently in eighth grade at Laurie Intermediate. "He does a
lot of lab experiments."
In addition to teaching science, Borrero helped initiate the
school's Science and Technology LEGO Robotics Leadership Program in
2002, which grew in popularity from an initial class of 30 kids to
about 600 students per year. The after-school initiative, which uses
LEGO bricks to help teach students the principles of engineering and
design, also earned Borrero the national 2004 American Federation of
Teachers Saturn/United Auto Workers Partnership Award.
That same year and again this year, his team won the New York State
LEGO Robotics Championship and traveled to Atlanta, Ga., for the
National Championship with money that Borrero diligently worked to
raise.
"With the LEGO program he's been so dedicated trying to make money
for us," said sixth-grader Alexis Strahl. "He makes it so much fun.
No matter what happens he always tries to encourage us that we can
always do better."
Born in Brooklyn, Borrero, 33, moved to Concord as a young child and
later graduated from New Dorp High School. He earned his bachelor's
degree in early childhood education from Brooklyn College in 1997.
He moved back to Brooklyn, and taught third grade at PS 189 in East
New York for four years, where he also ran an after-school science
program. He returned to Concord in 2000, where he currently lives
with his wife and two children.
After working in the private sector for a short while, Mr. B or Mr.
B The Science Guy as he is known, came to Laurie Intermediate
School. He almost immediately initiated the after-school science and
technology program, which features the LEGO robotics program,
dissection labs, games of Science Jeopardy, and students who
graduate with a sense that Borrero needed them as much as they
needed him.
"Mr. B, you're not gonna know what to do without us," they tell him.
While teaching during the day, Borrero studied evenings to obtain a
master's degree in environmental science at Brooklyn College in
2003. He is currently studying to get a degree in educational
administration and supervision at the College of Staten Island,
Willowbrook.
"If I can do this with 160 kids, imagine if I could do this with
500," said Borrero of his expected move from teacher to
administrator. "I want to try my hand at being the person to make an
even bigger difference."
By Yoav Gonen
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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