’Humans of New York’ project raises over $700K to send students to Harvard

Last week, the popular photo series Humans of New York posted the picture and story of Vidal Chastanet, a Grade 8 student from Brownsville who, when asked who has most influenced his life, praised his Mott Hall Bridges Academy principal, Ms. Lopez.

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"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. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter,” he told photographer and blog creator Brandon Stanton.

Stanton was so moved by the boy’s respect for his principal — and by the viral response to the story — that he met with the famous Ms. Lopez.

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"I ask people all the time about the most influential person in their life, and he was the first person who ever told me his principal," Stanton wrote in an email to CNN. “Then when I met Ms. Lopez, I could not have been more impressed. She is a force of nature. When she let me sit in on a staff meeting, I got a front-row seat to the challenges that her school faces, and I wanted to be involved in the solution.”

Working with Lopez and other school staff, Stanton then launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund a trip to Harvard for grade 6 students at Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

“I want every child who enters my school to know that they can go anywhere, and that they will belong,” Lopez told Stanton.

“They need to see for themselves that they should never think they’re not good enough for a school like Harvard,” Lopez told the NY Daily News.

The neighbourhood of Brownsville has the highest crime rate in New York City.

“It’s not the best place to be a kid,” Stanton wrote.

“When you tell people you’re from Brownsville, their face cringes up. But there are children here that need to know that they are expected to succeed,” Lopez said.

The goal was to raise $100,000, which would fund one class trip a year for the next three years.

To date, the fundraising campaign has raised more than $700,000 for the school.

"We’ve raised enough money in 24 hours to make the Harvard trip a permanent part of the MHBA curriculum," Stanton said.

According to an update on the Indiegogo page, every $40,000 beyond the first $350,000 raised will fund a summer program through the school.

"We have a major need for a summer program,” Lopez explained. “Learning stops during the summer for my scholars. We have what is called a ‘summer slide.’ My scholars can’t even go outside. It’s too dangerous. As an exercise, my teachers broke into small groups and took a walk through the community. We wanted to understand how our students live. We went inside the housing projects. The parks and playgrounds were empty because it’s too dangerous. Even the library isn’t a safe zone.”

“They need a safe place where they can do activities and continue to grow their minds,” she said. “I tried to put together a program last summer, but I couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t really put together any activities, and I could only use teachers-in-training. I need the funds to put together a program with my own teachers so my students have a safe place where they can continue to grow outside of school.”

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