Zoe

"To be honest, I never felt like I wanted to give up."

By Students of NYC

January 23^rd, 2025

"When I started kindergarten, I had just come back from China. I was born in Brooklyn but lived in China until I was 4 years old. I remember sitting on the rug in my kindergarten class as the teacher read us a story. I couldn't understand any of the words, but I always looked at the pictures and tried. Ms. Cohen was my ELL teacher. She would come and pull me out and take me to another room with a couple of other kids and help us to learn English. She would give us stickers, and she was so nice. We would do worksheets where we could color in the colors to learn the English words. I'd always go back to class and feel more confident.

Every time I went to the bathroom during kindergarten, I would walk really loud with my feet in the hallway so Ms. Cohen could hear me from her office. She would look out and wave hi to me. Sometimes, she would give me more stickers. During kindergarten graduation, I got really sick and I was throwing up in the bathroom. Ms. Cohen came to comfort me and make sure I was okay. That was the day she met my mom. They have loved each other ever since.

We moved to Staten Island after kindergarten, but I always kept in touch with Ms. Cohen. She would meet me and my mom at the library and read me books and help me learn English even on her own time. By 2nd grade, I felt like I could really understand English. It felt good to not only understand the language but to be able to show I could understand. I could answer their questions, and that felt the best.

In 7th grade, they called me to the office to give me my schedule and I saw the numbers 701. I knew that was the honors program, and I couldn't believe it. When I told my mom later that day, she hugged me so tightly. To be honest, I never felt like I wanted to give up. For anybody who feels like something is too hard I would tell them that they need to find themselves during that situation. They need to overcome their fear of why they think they can't. I think as people, we think we're really small and we have a limit, but we really don't. We are capable. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. But I know someday I want to be able to pay back Ms. Cohen. To give her back all the love and care that she gave me."