has worked for the past 16 years. Today, Brooke is a Line Producer on Maury, starring Maury Povich. She lives in Bloomfield, NJ with her husband and two children, and is pictured below with her dancing partner, professional singer and dancer Ronny Dutra.
Alumni Teachers Remember Teachers: Matthew Iversen ’96
I have been teaching for 11 years and began my career as a 2003 Teach For America corps member in the Bronx, NY.
1992 Mr. Enrique Neblett 718 Ainsley Court Durham, NC 27713 enrique.neblett@gmail.com Ms. Tamar Safer 816 Chippewa Trail Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 tsafer5400@aol.com Class agent: Ms. Anne Marie Verdiramo 302 Timberbrooke Drive Bedminster, NJ 07921 amverdiramo@gmail.com Congratulations to Cliff Finkle who was one of five trustees elected to the Partners for Health Foundation, in addition to being appointed to MKA’s Board of Trustees this fall.
1993 Mrs. Renee Ciccarella (Monteyne) 43 Veranda Avenue Little Falls, NJ 07424 rmonteyne@yahoo.com
68 C L A S S N O T E S
I am now the Assistant Dean of Instruction and a 1st grade teacher at SPARK Academy in Newark, NJ, which is part of TEAM Charter Schools - a KIPP school. Our network of schools will be changing its name to KIPP New Jersey in August. I have always enjoyed teaching, learning and service. My current job allows me to do all three on a daily basis. As a classroom teacher, I work with students each day to guide their intellectual and social growth. I love nothing more than to see those “ah ha” moments when a student makes a connection or solves a tricky problem and the magic of learning takes place. In my role as a dean and a teacher, the learning never stops for me either. Each day, I am challenged to figure out a different approach to a problem, understand a curriculum idea, or present information to a student in way that will help them learn better. Finally, in terms of service, my job offers me the opportunity to find meaning in my work every day through direct service to the city of Newark. In 2009, I was part of the team that founded SPARK Academy with 100 students. Since then, we have grown each year adding 100 kids per year. We are now a fully fledged K-4 school with 500 students. As a network we will be opening our fourth elementary school in Newark in the fall, and our first elementary school in Camden, NJ. My job confronts a pressing social
issue: failing public schools. I get to serve by being part of the charter school movement in Newark that is changing lives by changing the quality of public education. I enjoy my job each day because I get to do the things I love while at the same time contributing to something so much larger than myself. At MKA, Pier Kooistra had a great influence on me as a student. He made learning serious and fun at the same time. He strengthened my already strong love of learning. He was excited about all that he did in his class and as a result it made us excited too. I learned that attitudes are contagious - both good and bad. He always brought a great attitude to everything we did as students and as a result we all had fun learning. He encouraged us to push ourselves intellectually through challenging assignments. He led and guided lively class discussions. He never failed to give us honest feedback on our work so we could grow as students and individuals. I can remember many times sitting in his class laughing and learning at the same time. I think I learned so much in his class because it was always so much fun. I think I am the type of teacher I am today because of the type of teacher Pier Kooistra was to me back then - serious and challenging while at the same time engaging and fun. I always felt the teachers at MKA had my best interests in the forefront of everything they did for me. Coach Noll Klank made me run what felt like 1000 ball drills on the lacrosse field because it would make me a better player and it did. Mr. Buckley explained physics concepts to me over and over again always with a smile because he wanted me to really get it, and I did. Dr. Brown Allen guided me to solve a complicated math problem on the board in front of all my friends because she didn’t want me to lose my confidence in my math skills, and I didn’t. The high quality of the teachers and the kindness of their personalities is something I will never forget about my days at MKA.
Editor’s note: SPARK and TEAM Academy are well known to many MKA parents who have a longstanding and on-going tutoring relationship with the schools.