STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A Staten Island elementary school showcased its transformative work and growth through a day-long celebration recently that featured student performances and the unveiling of new specialty rooms and a teacher center.<\/p>\n
The Waverly Academy of Empowered Learners (PS 84) in Stapleton held its second annual 84 Day Celebration on Friday. <\/p>\n
The event is a signature moment for the school, taking time to reflect on how far it has come since it opened in 2022, celebrating its collective accomplishments, and recommitting to its mission and vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I found out that I was opening my own school, I used to walk from PS 78 to this building every single day and watch the process of a new building being built,\u201d said founding principal Kamor Olayokun. \u201cEvery step, I had a vision \u2014 big ones. I imagined an academy of empowered learners on Waverly Place. A place where students would become teachers and teachers would become students \u2026Today, that vision is real. So today, we celebrate the past, present, and future.\u201d<\/p>\n
During this special celebration, Olayokun joined students on stage for a drumming performance. The school then put on its hip-hop dance performance. <\/p>\n
\u201cWAELs [Waverly Academy of Empowered Learners, I love you so, so much for what you all do,\u201d said Dr. Roderick Palton, superintendent of Staten Island\u2019s District 31 schools. \u201cThe adults pour into these kids. There\u2019s nothing but love. Principal Olayokun, you\u2019re an amazing leader. You see nothing but the best in the kids. He fights for you guys every single day \u2026 I appreciate him because that\u2019s what we want for every school leader in District 31.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olayokun then gave a tour of several specialty rooms that were developed for students in staff, including an art room, a STEM room, a computer room, a new science room with a hydroponic planter, and a new podcast studio. <\/p>\n
Additionally, the school unveiled its new UFT Teacher Center Room, which is a dedicated space for collaboration, professional learning, and teacher leadership.<\/p>\n
Tania Renna, UFT Teacher Center coach at PS 84, thanked guests for celebrating the opening of the new space for school staff, sharing that it \u201cspeaks to the sense of community and collaboration that makes this work so meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A Staten Island elementary school showcased its transformative work and growth through a day-long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-124321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}