Blogger, principal hatch plan to take high-risk students to Harvard

Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood is known as a hub for crime, not scholasticism. But one middle school principal aims to show her students their lives not only matter but also aren’t limited by their environment. And now, after teaming up with popular photography blogger Brandon Stanton, Nadia Lopez plans to grow her students’ dreams by sending them on an annual trip to Harvard University.

Every day, Stanton captures snapshots of New York City’s dynamic population and posts them on the blog Humans of New York, his Facebook page, and Instagram. His Facebook page boasts nearly 12 million followers.

On Jan. 19, Stanton photographed Vidal Chastanet, an eighth-grade student at Mott Hall Bridges Academy (MHBA) in Brownsville. Stanton asked him who had most influenced his life. Vidal said his principal, Lopez.

“When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built,” Vidal told Stanton. “And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

The interview inspired Stanton to meet Lopez at her school. By Jan. 21, Stanton, Lopez, and the school’s assistant principal Monique Achu developed a plan to send each sixth-grade class to Harvard University at the start of the academic year. Many of the students have never left Brownsville, but Lopez told Stanton she didn’t want their immobility to limit their goals or imagination.

At MHBA, all the students and staff wear purple to remind them of their royal African heritage and the struggles African-Americans have already overcome. The children are referred to as “scholars,” not students. And Lopez sets high expectations for her students to succeed.

“I want every child who enters my school to know that they can go anywhere, and that they will belong,” she said in an interview on Stanton’s blog.

Stanton started an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the school trips, each estimated to cost about $30,000. He set the goal at $100,000, but donations surpassed it within hours. And with 11 days left in the campaign, it has already raised more than $800,000.

So Stanton and Lopez crafted a second plan for a summer program. During the summer break, MHBA students experience a “summer slide,” Lopez said. Brownsville kids don’t leave their apartments due to high crime rates. Lopez said one of her students recently had two guns pulled on him on his way to the local community center.

During the summer months, “they aren’t learning to ride horses or drive boats, and they certainly aren’t traveling,” Lopez told Stanton. “They need a safe place where they can do activities and continue to grow their minds.”

Lopez estimates that a summer program will cost about $40,000. The campaign has already raised enough money to fund trips and summer programs for 10 years. Stanton announced that funds raised over $700,000 would go in a scholarship fund for MHBA students. Vidal will be the first recipient.