Stories have the ability to open our eyes to different ideas, introduce us to new people, and take us on exciting journeys. Falling in love with reading helps students become leaders of tomorrow, and more active and engaged community members today. 

The Robertson Center is excited to invite you to our One Community, One Book event featuring Kelly Yang, award-winning author of Front Desk. Open to educators, students, and families, this interactive webinar will feature Kelly and a panel of passionate educators and students in conversation about her life, novel, and writing process — and we’ll of course open the chat for your questions, too!

Webinar attendees are encouraged to read Front Desk and submit questions for Kelly ahead of the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Front Desk is Kelly's award-winning middle grade debut novel about a 10-year-old Chinese immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms. Front Desk was awarded the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, the Parents' Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and was named an Amazon Best Book of the Year, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a NPR Best Book of the Year, and a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year.

Kelly Yang: Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of the Front Desk series, including Front Desk, Three Keys, and newest book, Room to Dream. She's also the author of young adult novels Parachutes and Private Label, and upcoming middle-grade novel New from Here, which is out this March. Kelly immigrated to America when she was 6 years old and grew up in Southern California, where she and her parents worked in three different motels. She eventually left the motels and went to college at the age of 13 and law school at the age of 17. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in Political Science, and Harvard Law School. After law school, she gave up law to pursue her passion of writing and teaching children writing. She is the founder of The Kelly Yang Project (kellyyang.edu.hk), a leading writing and debating program for kids in Asia. As a writing teacher for 13 years, Kelly helped thousands of children find their voice and become better writers and more powerful speakers. Before turning to fiction, she was also a columnist for the South China Morning Post for many years. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has three children and lives in Los Angeles.

Stacey Gershkovich: Stacey started her education career as a first grade teacher at PS 138 in the Bronx. She joined Success Academy in 2006, as the founding science teacher at the network's first elementary school. Stacey would go on to serve as founding principal of SA Harlem 5, before joining the network team to oversee mathematics, science, and scholar talent as Managing Director of STEM. She then served as Managing Director of Schools, where she coached and supported leaders at a portfolio of SA schools. Stacey received her undergraduate degree from Emory University, her Master's in Education from Pace University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Teaching and Learning with a focus in Mathematics Education at NYU. She is mom to Jake, Emma and Riley.

Jacqui Friedman: Jacqui is thrilled to join the Robertson Center team after seven years of teaching and leading in Success Academy's schools and on the network academics team. After launching her education career in 2009 as an elementary school teacher in the South Bronx, Jacqui joined SA in 2014 as a founding middle school English and theater teacher and went on to serve as assistant principal. In 2018, she joined the SA network team to manage the middle school literacy program, with a focus on developing quality training for teachers and school leaders. Jacqui received her undergraduate degree from Brown University, her MS in Teaching from Fordham University, and holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Educators joining from their classrooms:

India Knight: India has taught ELA for the past five years at Success Academy, first in a Harlem location and in two Bed-Stuy locations. Her favorite part of being an ELA teacher is witnessing high-level discussions in class, especially debating themes such as the meaning of friendship and whether fortune or kindness is more important. India learns more from her scholars as they push each other and themselves to connect texts to concepts and questions in their own lives. In her class, everyone stays curious and never backs down from challenges, and with Front Desk, her class challenged themselves to come up with the most thought-provoking questions for Kelly Yang. India and her students cannot wait to discuss Kelly's work with her!

Aldwin Villanueva: Aldwin has taught 5th, 6th, and 7th grade ELA as a founding teacher at Success Academy Springfield Gardens, formerly known as Queens 1 MS. His love for reading stems from the idea that literature serves as a mirror for readers and that people can get a better understanding of who they are through introspection and reflection. Having grown up in Queens, Aldwin is excited to have these challenging and critical conversations in regards to Kelly's work that dissects the Asian-American experience. He is also elated that these ideas will be discoursed with a group of diverse perspectives. Aldwin is currently an Assistant Principal with a concentration in Mathematics, but his love for ELA persists.

Stacey Gershkovich started her education career as a first grade teacher at PS 138 in the Bronx. She joined Success in 2006, as the founding science teacher at our very first elementary school. Stacey would go on to serve as founding principal of Success Academy Harlem 5, before joining the network team to oversee mathematics, science, and scholar talent as Managing Director of STEM. She then served as Managing Director of Schools, where she coached and supported leaders at a portfolio of SA schools. Stacey received her undergraduate degree from Emory University, her Master's in Education from Pace University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Teaching and Learning with a focus in Mathematics Education at NYU. She is mom to Jake, Emma and Riley.

Something happens in a room full of educators. Ideas get bigger, barriers shrink, defy-the-odds notions feel downright within reach. We believe in these rooms — in the power of bringing together our country’s fiercest believers in the capacity of kids to help them set it free. At the Robertson Center, makers of magical classrooms find the content, conversation and community they need to accelerate their inspiring work. To learn more about the Robertson Center, please check out our website here. 

Success Academy’s 47 free public schools serve over 20,000 K-12 students across New York City. These scholars - 78% of whom come from low-income households and all of whom are admitted by random lottery - are the highest performing in New York State.