Our Staff

 

Ms. Graham, Principal:
Ms. Graham began her career in education as a Social Studies teacher in Washington Heights. Since then, she has also taught Math and Science at the middle school level and served as a Math Coach. Ms. Graham has been part of the founding staff at two schools and is familiar with the work and commitment required to start and maintain a successful school.

Ms. Graham was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States when she was one year old; she is fluent in Spanish. In addition to working with students and teachers, she enjoys hiking, traveling and spending time with her family. She holds a BA from Duke University, an MS from the City College of New York and an EdM from Teachers College.


Kristen Bonstein, Enrichment Coordinator:
Ms. Bonstein is thrilled to be on the founding staff of UASCJ, helping to bring alive the theme of Criminal Justice and connecting our students to the wide world of New York City! Ms. Bonstein was born in New Jersey, has lived in Atlanta and Boston, and since 2005 she has been proud to call Brooklyn "home sweet home." She earned her BA in Theatre Arts from Drew University and her MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College, having recently worked at NYU's Graduate Acting Program. In her free time Ms. Bonstein enjoys learning new things through books, theatre, music, film, art, and most importantly, people. She also makes a mean chocolate chip cookie.

 

Ms. Barbuto, Social Studies:
Ms. Barbuto has been teaching Middle School social studies at a public school in New York City for the past five years.  She moved to New York six years ago from California to attend Teachers College at Columbia University.  Besides teaching Ms. Barbuto's biggest passion is travel.  She has spent summers backpacking around Europe, China, Southeast Asia and Bolivia.  Someday she hopes to visit all seven continents and swim in all four oceans. 

 

Ms. Chakrabarti, Science and Latin:
Ms. Chakrabarti was born and brought up in Baltimore, MD, where she attended an all-girls middle and high school.  She then went to college at BrownUniversity in Providence, RI, where she majored in Biology and Classics.  In addition to studying some of her favorite subjects, she was also a radio DJ there, and worked with many mentoring programs, related to student advising and women in science.  Since college, Ms. Chakrabarti has worked at a private school teaching middle school science, as well as coordinating the Community Service program at her school, as she is passionate about making connections in communities and values service towards others.  She also just completed her Masters Degree in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.  While Ms. Chakrabarti loves talking about evolution and etymological roots to words, in her spare time she also loves spending time with family and friends, traveling (especially to India where she visits her grandmother and aunt's family), listening to music, watching movies, reading, and exercising (as much as possible!). 

 

Ms. Czerkowicz, Science:
Ms. Czerkowicz has been teaching science for the last ten years in Manhattan. She is a born naturalist and recycler who remembers taking care of plants since childhood.   Since receiving a MA in Secondary Science Education at The City College of New York, Ms. Czerkowicz has continued her nature studies on the Hudson River, Cape Cod and wherever she travels. She lives in the West Village with her family and enjoys listening to music, biking and swimming.

 

Mr. Dante, English:
Mr. Dante was born in Brooklyn and has spent the past five years teaching English in a public high school. He started his career as a film and commercial actor and appeared in a number of Spike Lee films. After heeding the call to teaching, he became a New York City Teaching Fellow and then completed his Masters at Brooklyn College. Mr. Dante speaks Italian fluently and has studied and lived in Siena, Italy. In addition to his love of travel, he is a writer and an excellent chef.

Ms. Hurst, English:

 

Ms. Jufer, Dean and PE:

Ms. Jufer was born of Swiss immigrants in Queens, N.Y. and is fluent in French. She earned a full athletic scholarship to Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. where she earned a B.A in Psychology and an M.A. in Education.  She continued her studies and earned her administrative licensure from the College of Staten Island.  Prior to her arrival at UASCJ, Ms. Jufer taught at a middle school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for 17 years.  

In 1999 Ms. Jufer was one of the pioneer players on New York City’s first women’s professional tackle football team, the New York Sharks.  She retired her football pads in 2002 but continues to play flag football in national tournaments.  In 2003 she was inducted into L.I.U.’s “Hall of Fame” for her athletic achievements in softball.  In addition to playing team sports, she loves to spend time hiking and being with her family in the Swiss Alps. She hopes to instill in her students a love of learning, a willingness to accept life’s challenges with confidence and an awareness of the importance of fitness in helping them become well-rounded members of society.

 

Ms. Norman, Special Education:

Ms. Norman grew up Portland, Oregon, and has a deep love for the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She spent her summers away from college teaching in an enrichment program with the Portland Public School system. She attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Spanish Literature. At Wesleyan she was a tutor in the student-run Adult ESL program for English-learning university employees. Ms. Norman is a Teach for America Corps member working towards her Masters of Science in Education at City College in the program for Teachers of Students with Disabilities in Middle Childhood Education. Ms. Norman loves to travel and is an avid photographer. She is excited to begin her teaching career at UASCJ!

 

Ms. Ostrager, ESL and Spanish:

Ms. Ostrager grew up in New York City, where she attended an all girls school from kindergarten through twelfth grade. She discovered her love for working with children and adolescents while in middle school and has pursued this passion ever since. She attended Stanford University in California and graduated with honors in psychology and a minor in Spanish. At Stanford University, Ms. Ostrager worked with children in both the domains of teaching and psychology. She is currently a Teach For America corps member and enrolled in the Masters of Science of Education at Lehman College program with a focus on teaching English as a second language. She is trained in classical ballet and loves dancing, and listening to music. She enjoys spending time with her friends and family as well as meeting new people and having new experiences. Ms. Ostrager hopes to instill in her students a love for learning and a desire to broaden their world views. 

Ms. Palmeri, Art/Yoga:
Throughout her years of experience, Ms. Palmeri has worked with students of all age levels teaching art, drama workshop, and special education. Her painting of an American Gold Star Parent Monument is on display at the National Headquarters of the American Gold Star Mothers in Washington D.C. Next to art, singing is her number one hobby. She has sung the National Anthem professionally for many years for various occasions and events. She continues to pursue her own artwork today working with various mediums.

Ms. Rozencwaig, Secretary:
Ms. Rozencwaig was born in Poland and lived in Israel for six years. She speaks Polish and Hebrew. For many years she has been involved in fund raising for a variety of good causes. In addition to her secretarial expertise, Ms. Rozencwaig brings a professionalism and a cheerful disposition to our school.

Ms. Shedd, Math:

Ms. Shedd has been teaching math for six years.  One of the things she enjoys most about her job is helping students who hate math find out that it can actually be fun!  Ms. Shedd started teaching through the New York City Teaching Fellows program.  Before teaching, she worked for eight years with nonprofit organizations who needed grants, loans or management assistance.  Ms. Shedd lives in Brooklyn with her daughter.  They like to spend time together on their favorite hobbies, which include hiking, cooking, gardening, listening to music and taking care of their pets.

 

Ms. Webber, Autumn Links Coordinator:

 

Ms. Wertz, Math:

Ms. Wertz grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, where she discovered very early that math was her favorite subject. She engaged in geeky childhood pastimes like creating her own number systems and writing computer programs to draw geometric shapes. After earning a Bachelors degree in Mathematics at Swarthmore College, Ms. Wertz moved to New York City and spent over 10 years working in corporate information technology, focusing mainly in the publishing industry. After spending many enjoyable evenings as a volunteer math tutor, Ms. Wertz decided to change careers and become a full-time math teacher. She completed her MA in Mathematics Education at Teachers College this spring through the Newton Fellowship program. She looks forward to bringing together her deep love of math, her practical appreciation of computers, and the rich theme of criminal justice and evidence-based reasoning.

Mr. Wood, English:

For the past three years, Mr. Wood has taught high school in Boston, but he moved to Brooklyn this past summer to fulfill a life-long dream of living in New York City.  Mr. Wood grew up in New Jersey and earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Princeton University.  After graduating in 2002 and wanting to "see the world", he moved to Vietnam's Mekong Delta and spent two years teaching English as a Second Language to Vietnamese community college students.  When he returned to the USA, he earned a M.Ed in Secondary Education from the University of Massachusetts Boston.  In his free time Mr. Wood loves traveling, camping/hiking, cooking, and listening to live music.  On school vacations, he usually is out of town!  Some of the more interesting countries he has visited are Vietnam, India, Japan, Kenya, Russia, and Guatemala.  He has driven across the USA twice - in 2004 and 2007.  He has been a radio DJ and is still actively involved in a radio station run by Princeton University students.  He loves technology of all kinds and tries to incorporate technology into his daily lesson plans.  Mr. Wood is very excited to join the staff of UASCJ!

Ms. Yanow, Social Studies:
Ms. Yanow grew up in Williamstown, MA, a beautiful little town in the Berkshire Mountains. She attended college at Wesleyan University where she discovered how fascinating Social Studies can be. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, she moved to Chicago and completed an Americorps program at The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, helping low-income people solve their legal problems. From there she entered the Master of Science in Education program at Northwestern University where she graduated with a Masters in Social Studies Teaching in August 2007. While at Northwestern Ms. Yanow conducted research about how to help students make connections between their own lives and aspects of the Social Studies curriculum.

Ms. Yanow's love of teaching began at an early age when she and a friend held class for their stuffed animals. She's moved on since then, teaching actual kids in Maryland, Connecticut and Illinois. Ms. Yanow believes that learning should be fun and that Social Studies should help us better understand ourselves and our world. In her free time, Ms. Yanow enjoys singing and listening to music, making bad jokes, watching movies, going to beaches and parks, reading, and spending time with friends & family. She is thrilled to be starting her teaching career at UASCJ.