Rameezah Naz is a Sewanhaka ‘High School Hero’

Rameezah Naz, a Sewanhaka High School senior, hopes to become an elementary school teacher. Her experience teaching local elementary students in June reinforced that aspiration.

She wrote an essay about her work with New Hyde Park Road School fourth-grade students, in which they focused on community service, financial literacy and what it means to be a good citizen.

“We taught them how they can help in the community as well and make a difference,” Naz said. “I believe that at the end of the day, it helped them, too, because they gained knowledge about how to save up their money to buy things they might like.”

Naz was taking part in the Junior Achievement High School Heroes program, which “provides high school students the opportunity to become role models by teaching and inspiring elementary students,” according to its website. The program partners with schools throughout New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley.

Naz was the third-place winner in the program’s essay competition last month. Her essay will be featured on the Junior Achievement website and in other related publications. She was also awarded a $100 scholarship by Junior Achievement.

“It was, overall, a really gratifying experience,” Naz said.

She was one of 24 students from Sewanhaka and Elmont Memorial High School who volunteered to teach the younger students as part of the Junior Achievement program, in collaboration with their schools’ Future Business Leaders of America clubs. This was the first time the program worked with those clubs. The “High School Heroes” worked in teams of two or three, teaching the elementary students interactive lessons.

Naz recalled that when she was an elementary student, her class welcomed guests who came to speak about their careers. She recalled feeling inspired by those professionals, and leapt at the chance to offer some inspiration of her own to the fourth-graders.

“I signed up right away, in hopes to encourage and make a difference in their lives,” she said.

Michele Leonardo, a business teacher at Sewanhaka High, a work-based learning coordinator and a co-adviser of the Future Business Leaders, had previously worked with Junior Achievement as a teacher at Baldwin High School. She thought it would be a great program to bring to the Sewanhaka district.

“Students love this event,” Leonardo said. “It’s probably their favorite thing they look forward to if it’s a part of a club.”

Members of Future Business Leaders usually hope to teach or help others, which, Naz said makes the program all the better. “It allows the ‘High School Heroes’ to improve their communication abilities and leadership skills,” she said. “On the elementary school student side, they’re able to make a difference with money management, budgeting and saving.”

The experience was more than just a volunteer opportunity, because Naz felt that she was able to make a “tangible difference” for the students she worked with.

“This program really helped me become more determined, and solidified my aspiration to become a teacher in the future,” she said.

Students can earn community service credit, improve their public speaking skills and gain work-related experience teaching elementary students by taking part in the Junior Achievement program. To learn more about it, visit NewYork.JA.org.