Long Island Latino Teachers Association offers future teachers of color a boost with scholarships
Ezequiel Claros, left, a first-generation college student, with his mentor, Nassau Community College professor Leonardo Falcon, on Thursday. Credit: Danielle Silverman
Last year, Ezequiel Claros was on the verge of abandoning his college education — and challenging his dream of becoming a teacher like the ones who inspired him.
Claros, then a first-generation student at Nassau Community College, struggled to work three jobs to support himself while attending school full-time. On top of that, his parents, who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador, thought he should work in construction or something else that didn't require a college degree.
"I was at the lowest point of … my life," said Claros, 21, of Central Islip.
He later added: "I would have questions, whether I was wasting my time or what was I doing?"
But his outlook changed after a history and Latin American studies professor pointed him in the direction of full tuition and other scholarships that he was able to secure.
One was from the Long Island Latino Teachers Association geared at helping to add diversity to the educator workforce — an issue in the state and on Long Island. On Saturday, the organization will celebrate 10 students who were awarded this year's scholarship at a ceremony at the LGBT Network in Hauppauge.
Ricardo Campos, chairperson of the Long Island Latino Teachers Association scholarship and internship committee, said the scholarship created a vital ecosystem to "nurture and create our own diverse educators."
"So, I feel like having this scholarship is helping in a way to highlight and diversify the teaching profession because students need to be able to see themselves represented in the field in order to be motivated to become teachers," said Campos, a teacher in Central Islip.
The scholarship, which has been around since 2007, can give students $600 annually for up to four years as they seek to become educators.
Students of various racial backgrounds are encouraged to apply. A scholarship recipient is African American, Campos said.
Sandra Castro, associate dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Studies at Adelphi University, says teachers are agents of socialization and that having diverse educators can combat stereotypes while capitalizing on their cultural capital in areas such as providing bilingual education.
"It benefits them [students] to see professionals of color," she said. "It shows them that we can be something more than just the housekeeper, or just the gangbanger on TV … or the salsa celebrity," Castro said.
"So it has to go beyond that," she said. "You really need to see those role models in schools."
But recent education data shows there is room for improvement. Students of color made up roughly 53% of school enrollment on Long Island, though full-time teaching staff of color made up under 10%, Newsday has reported, using data from the 2020-21 school year.
Still, there remain some signs of change. In 2020-21, roughly 5.3% of teachers identified as Latino, up from around 1.7% in 2017-18, the story said.
Yet, educational experts say, bringing more teachers of color into the workforce will take a multifaceted effort. These include better hiring practices from school districts to open the pipeline by providing scholarships and other opportunities to people who want to be in the field.
The Long Island Latino Teachers Association's scholarship seeks to continue supporting young people seeking the career path.
Campos said the group's awards help to lessen the financial burden for students, providing money for books, food and other items that other scholarships might not cover.
Campos knows the pressures intimately. He received this scholarship, using the funds to pay for books and other costs. Although his parents gave him shelter and food, he said, they did not have the financial means to provide more.
Today, he's a teacher at Central Islip High School, from which he graduated. He teaches pre-calculus to those on the college track and bilingual algebra.
"I see both worlds," he said. And he hopes to guide all of his students toward success.
At Mineola High School, Claros said he didn't know the resources were "for me." His parents, who do not speak English, did not have the financial means either, he said, and believed a high school education was "the ultimate thing."
But he wanted to go to college to pursue his love of learning.
"I'm going to go to Nassau Community College," Claros said he thought to himself then. And "if I'm unable to complete it due to my financial struggles, then at least I tried."
When he got to the college campus, he said, he found it difficult to articulate his story partly because many of his peers came from families whose relatives had gone to college.
Leonardo Falcón, a history and Latin American studies professor and founder of the Latin American Center for Academic Success and Achievement at Nassau Community College, remembers Claros telling him he wanted to drop out and giving the student space to tell his story.
Falcón recalled Claros saying, " 'Thank you for letting me cry in Spanish,' meaning you understand my struggle."
"When you have a professor, when you have a teacher who is a minority, who is a migrant, who has struggled with all of these institutional discriminatory policies that we have — because we have them everywhere — the professor understands the struggles of the student," he said.
Today, Claros still faces an uphill battle, though perhaps with less incline. He has one part-time job. Now a junior at Stony Brook University, he commutes from his Central Islip to campus, which is about 12 miles away.
He seeks to enter the education field with a mission: "As a teacher, I would like to find a student like myself and help them, and show them how to accomplish their goals."
Last year, Ezequiel Claros was on the verge of abandoning his college education — and challenging his dream of becoming a teacher like the ones who inspired him.
Claros, then a first-generation student at Nassau Community College, struggled to work three jobs to support himself while attending school full-time. On top of that, his parents, who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador, thought he should work in construction or something else that didn't require a college degree.
"I was at the lowest point of … my life," said Claros, 21, of Central Islip.
He later added: "I would have questions, whether I was wasting my time or what was I doing?"
WHAT TO KNOW
The Long Island Latino Teachers Association gives out scholarships to students to diversify the teaching profession.
Students of color made up roughly 53% of school enrollment on Long Island, though full-time teaching staff of color made up slightly under 10%, Newsday reported, using data from the 2020-21 school year.
Educational experts say bringing more teachers of color into the workforce will require better hiring practices from school districts and providing scholarships and other opportunities to people who want to be in the field.
But his outlook changed after a history and Latin American studies professor pointed him in the direction of full tuition and other scholarships that he was able to secure.
One was from the Long Island Latino Teachers Association geared at helping to add diversity to the educator workforce — an issue in the state and on Long Island. On Saturday, the organization will celebrate 10 students who were awarded this year's scholarship at a ceremony at the LGBT Network in Hauppauge.
Ricardo Campos, chairperson of the Long Island Latino Teachers Association scholarship and internship committee, said the scholarship created a vital ecosystem to "nurture and create our own diverse educators."
"So, I feel like having this scholarship is helping in a way to highlight and diversify the teaching profession because students need to be able to see themselves represented in the field in order to be motivated to become teachers," said Campos, a teacher in Central Islip.
The scholarship, which has been around since 2007, can give students $600 annually for up to four years as they seek to become educators.
Students of various racial backgrounds are encouraged to apply. A scholarship recipient is African American, Campos said.
Diverse educators needed
Sandra Castro, associate dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Studies at Adelphi University, says teachers are agents of socialization and that having diverse educators can combat stereotypes while capitalizing on their cultural capital in areas such as providing bilingual education.
"It benefits them [students] to see professionals of color," she said. "It shows them that we can be something more than just the housekeeper, or just the gangbanger on TV … or the salsa celebrity," Castro said.
"So it has to go beyond that," she said. "You really need to see those role models in schools."
But recent education data shows there is room for improvement. Students of color made up roughly 53% of school enrollment on Long Island, though full-time teaching staff of color made up under 10%, Newsday has reported, using data from the 2020-21 school year.
Still, there remain some signs of change. In 2020-21, roughly 5.3% of teachers identified as Latino, up from around 1.7% in 2017-18, the story said.
Yet, educational experts say, bringing more teachers of color into the workforce will take a multifaceted effort. These include better hiring practices from school districts to open the pipeline by providing scholarships and other opportunities to people who want to be in the field.
The Long Island Latino Teachers Association's scholarship seeks to continue supporting young people seeking the career path.
Campos said the group's awards help to lessen the financial burden for students, providing money for books, food and other items that other scholarships might not cover.
Campos knows the pressures intimately. He received this scholarship, using the funds to pay for books and other costs. Although his parents gave him shelter and food, he said, they did not have the financial means to provide more.
Now a high school teacher
Today, he's a teacher at Central Islip High School, from which he graduated. He teaches pre-calculus to those on the college track and bilingual algebra.
"I see both worlds," he said. And he hopes to guide all of his students toward success.
At Mineola High School, Claros said he didn't know the resources were "for me." His parents, who do not speak English, did not have the financial means either, he said, and believed a high school education was "the ultimate thing."
But he wanted to go to college to pursue his love of learning.
"I'm going to go to Nassau Community College," Claros said he thought to himself then. And "if I'm unable to complete it due to my financial struggles, then at least I tried."
When he got to the college campus, he said, he found it difficult to articulate his story partly because many of his peers came from families whose relatives had gone to college.
Leonardo Falcón, a history and Latin American studies professor and founder of the Latin American Center for Academic Success and Achievement at Nassau Community College, remembers Claros telling him he wanted to drop out and giving the student space to tell his story.
Falcón recalled Claros saying, " 'Thank you for letting me cry in Spanish,' meaning you understand my struggle."
"When you have a professor, when you have a teacher who is a minority, who is a migrant, who has struggled with all of these institutional discriminatory policies that we have — because we have them everywhere — the professor understands the struggles of the student," he said.
Today, Claros still faces an uphill battle, though perhaps with less incline. He has one part-time job. Now a junior at Stony Brook University, he commutes from his Central Islip to campus, which is about 12 miles away.
He seeks to enter the education field with a mission: "As a teacher, I would like to find a student like myself and help them, and show them how to accomplish their goals."
Education: Howard University
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.
Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation; New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting; Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.
