Brooklyn Lab Constitution College (Brooklyn Lab), a college-prep public college in downtown Brooklyn instructing college students from sixth to twelfth grade, hosted its third annual “Success Appears to be like Like Me” Profession Day on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
With 98% of Brooklyn Lab’s students figuring out as individuals of coloration, the varsity is dedicated to breaking down obstacles and widening the trail to school and profession success. The college was co-founded in 2013, and its mission is to remove the achievement hole by making ready college students with the educational basis, digital literacy, and management expertise needed to achieve school {and professional} life.
Brooklyn native Dr. Garland Thomas-McDavid has been the varsity’s CEO for 3 years now, after over twenty years main colleges in Chicago in a number of the nation’s most deprived communities.
“My work has at all times centered on making certain that underserved college students have the identical entry, assist, and alternatives as their friends. At Brooklyn Lab, we’re not simply making ready college students for school and careers—we’re cultivating future leaders who see themselves mirrored in excellence each single day,” mentioned Thomas-McDavid.
Thomas-McDavid has the next mission: to raise commencement charges for Black college students in New York whereas additionally specializing in offering her college students with alternatives and publicity to Black position fashions.
Sharing one of many private experiences that led her to this mission, she acknowledged, “I consider I used to be born an educator. As a toddler, I might line up my siblings and make them play college with me, utilizing previous, discarded desks my mom discovered simply so I might carry my little classroom to life. Even then, I felt the facility of schooling — not simply as a topic to be discovered, however as a software for transformation.”
Rising up in East New York within the ’80s, she was surrounded by challenges that might have simply outlined her future—violent crime, the crack epidemic that reached into her own residence, and an schooling system that too typically underestimated children like her.
One other private expertise that led Thomas-McDavid to this mission was when she and her 5 youthful siblings have been taking the bus to varsities in Bensonhurst. It was in these colleges that she was positioned in a gifted tutorial program.
“I skilled the transformative energy of schooling. For the primary time, I noticed what it meant to be in a classroom the place lecturers anticipated excellence, the place alternative wasn’t an afterthought however a given. That have confirmed me what was doable—but it surely additionally made me query why so many college students in my personal neighborhood weren’t afforded the identical,” she added.
She mentioned that on the college, lecturers and employees put together college students academically whereas serving to them consider in themselves and dream massive goals.
“We’re opening doorways, exposing our students to the leaders, professionals, and position fashions who show that success is inside their attain. That’s why Success Appears to be like Like Me isn’t simply an occasion — it’s a motion. It’s the very factor I want I had rising up: an area the place Black and Brown college students don’t simply think about success, they see it mirrored within the individuals standing proper in entrance of them,” she defined.
Success Appears to be like Like Me was born out of a easy however highly effective thought: when college students see individuals who appear like them attaining on the highest ranges, they start to see these potentialities for themselves.
In keeping with Thomas-McDavid, the staff that deliberate the occasion wished to create an area amplifying Black excellence in each subject and creating direct connections between our college students and the leaders shaping these industries.
“Systemic obstacles — whether or not it’s restricted entry to high-quality colleges, underrepresentation in management, or a scarcity of mentorship — persist, however we refuse to allow them to outline our college students’ futures. This occasion dismantles these obstacles by fostering networks, elevating real-world success tales, and equipping college students with the data, confidence, and relationships they should thrive. It’s not nearly inspiration; it’s about activation,” she continued.
This yr, the occasion will carry collectively an unimaginable lineup of completed professionals—leaders who mirror the brilliance, resilience, and ambition that our college students carry inside them. College students will hear from entrepreneurs, engineers, artists, educators, and executives—leaders who’ve carved their personal paths and are wanting to share their classes, struggles, and triumphs.
Every speaker brings a special perspective, however the widespread thread is that this: success just isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey and illustration issues.
One among them is Kelly Mehrtens, a powerhouse in skilled and collegiate athletics. She is a keynote speaker with over 30 years of govt expertise, together with as Govt Director of The Belief, powered by the NFL Gamers Affiliation.
“Her journey — from being an NCAA All-American in observe and subject to shaping packages that assist former NFL gamers of their profession transitions — is a testomony to the facility of perseverance, adaptability, and strategic management. She embodies the very message we wish our college students to remove: success is about greater than expertise — it’s about resilience, preparation, and figuring out easy methods to navigate alternatives once they come up,” Thomas-McDavid acknowledged.
If there’s one factor she and the occasion planning staff need college students to stroll away with, it’s the understanding that their aspirations are legitimate, achievable, and inside attain.
“They may depart figuring out that their goals aren’t distant, summary concepts— they’re tangible objectives which have been realized by individuals who appear like them, who share their backgrounds, and who’re proof that success appears like them,” she continued, including, “Greater than something, I hope college students depart with the boldness to say their house. The world wants their concepts, their management, and their voices. At Brooklyn Lab, we’re dedicated to enabling our college students to dream massive and making certain they’ve each software they should meet these aspirations.”
The occasion passed off on the college, situated at 77 Sands St., Brooklyn, NY 11201, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Dad and mom with college students getting into center college who’ve questions can name the varsity at 347-473-8340 or e-mail admissions@brooklynlaboratoryschool.org.
