English Team

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Aristo

Aristo grew up in New Jersey and moved to New York in 2011 to attend NYU. After graduating with a degree in English Education in 2015, Aristo began teaching at West End Secondary as a founding teacher. While working at WESS, he completed graduate school at Columbia, earning a degree in Gifted Education. Since 2015, Aristo has taught several different levels of English, and he now teaches AP English Literature. Over the years, Aristo helped develop the WESS debate team and proudly led the Dolphins crew from the time they entered WESS as sixth graders until graduation. Outside of teaching, Aristo spends his time writing and finding new music to listen to; he has a modest publication to his name after one of his professors asked him to contribute to an article on the teaching of Shakespeare. 

Ayesha

Ayesha is a proud native New Yorker. She attended The New School where she received her B.A. and Master’s degree in Teaching. Her first English teaching position was at her middle school alma mater Wadleigh Secondary School. She learned once more from the teachers who taught her when she was a child. Ayesha often refers to her first years teaching as her awakening. The classroom is where she was meant to be. Opening up a student’s eyes to a new concept, a child having the “Ah ha!” moment and having a student connect a situation to a reading are powerfully fulfilling experiences for Ayesha. She has taught in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brazil and in The United Arab Emirates.

Jennifer L.

Jennifer was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She moved up to Park Slope, Brooklyn just last August and is relatively still new to New York. After studying English Education at the University of Georgia, she taught high school English Language Arts for five years. In her second year of teaching, she started a Master’s degree broadly in Curriculum and Instruction, but more specifically studying how the racial realities within schools across the United States affects student learning beyond cultural responsivity, and into the day to day experience students of color experience their education within the classroom. Jennifer’s experience teaching in Cologne, Germany and traveling brought her to West End Secondary School. The philosophy and progressiveness that WESS offers is aligned with her educational values. Outside of the classroom, Jennifer spends time dabbling in photography, painting, traveling, and reading, mostly nonfiction.

Leuinda

Leuinda was born in Colorado. She lived in seven different states before landing in New York 15 years ago. She earned her teaching degree from a small college in Missouri and earned her Master’s of Teaching and Leading from the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!). Her coursework at KU focused on young adult literature which began an obsession with YA books that continues today. In her not-so-humble opinion, everyone should read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and PET by Akwaeke Emezi. The only thing she loves more than young adult literature is being a teacher, which has been her dream job since she was a kindergartener. Leuinda spends her free time reading or knitting and enjoying the parks of Washington Heights with her husband and two sons.

Marina

Marina was born in Belarus and moved to New York City with her family at five years old. She grew up in the Bronx and is a true New Yorker at heart. She received a BA in English and Public Relations from Syracuse University and a Masters degree in Secondary English Education from Fordham University. She also holds a Masters Degree from Alfred University in school counseling. Marina has spent the last 14 years teaching English to sixth and seventh grade students all over the city. She loves the classroom and is happiest when she sees her kids grow in ways they didn’t think they originally could. Marina devotes every school break to traveling the world and loves getting lost in a new country. She also enjoys ballroom dancing, singing, and spending time with her family and friends. Marina is the proud leader of the Blue Jays crew.

Sansriti

Sansriti was born in India and raised in the great state of New Jersey before moving to Baltimore to attend college at Johns Hopkins University. She moved to New York City in 2017 to be closer to family and begin her exciting journey as an English teacher through the New York City Teaching Fellows. She spent her first four years teaching in the Bronx, before joining WESS in 2021. During the school year, you can find Sansriti making bad puns in the classroom, running around the halls with the cross country and track teams, or feeding her caffeine addiction at the Starbucks down the block. Sansriti loves the community at WESS and can’t wait for another new year!

Tom

A California native, Tom moved to New York to attend Columbia University. After an early career in the art world and degrees in art history and education, he taught English at high schools in Queens and the Bronx. At WESS, Tom teaches English, social studies, and art history, coaches high school boys’ soccer, and advises the wonderful Cougar Crew.