6/40 Josh

As part of our Forty Stories series highlighting the people behind our buildings, we're sharing the letter that Joshua Ojo wrote in support of a Suffolk proposal to build a school in his native borough-the Bronx.

What would it mean for me to build a KIPP school?

“You gotta read, baby read” and “work hard, be nice” have been mantras that I have been living by for as long as I can remember. My wonderful sister is 8 years my senior and started her time at KIPP Academy Middle School in the fall of 2000. My 2-year-old self at the time had no idea the extent to which her attending, what was maybe a three classroom institution at the time, would change the trajectory of our family’s lives forever.

Even at that young age, one thing that was synonymous with our household was the desire for knowledge. My mother was a single parent who was working through nursing school while also raising both me and my sister, and she more than anything was the catalyst for our household’s esteem for higher education and love for knowledge. So, it only made sense that once she got wind of KIPP, that she did everything in her power to get my sister in the door. And as quickly as that happened, it was decided I would be entering the program as well. Even 8 years before it was time for me to even attend KIPP, I have memories of my sister coming home from school and teaching me everything she learned: whether it was memorizing times tables or even teaching me a few notes on her violin.

Those activities planted seeds for my interests and desires going forward, and definitely propelled me to pursue engineering. It was during a KIPP field trip to an architecture firm in New York that gave me the vision to contextualize how I could express my love for math, the arts, and people. And this is just one experience on the list of many, in ways this amazing organization has given me and my family the opportunity to achieve things most people don’t have the resources to attain – much less a kid from the Bronx. Such memories include KIPP finding me a sponsor to fund my high school education, giving me the opportunity to perform in a traveling orchestra with John Legend, and placing invaluable advisors in my life in the form of KTC counselors and alumni that continue to educate me on what it means to be a leader and positive force in whatever environment I step into.

So, this part of my life really came full circle when I learned that Suffolk was building a KIPP school. I believe this is far from a coincidence, knowing that the qualities that drew me to Suffolk were very much in line with principles I was bred on at KIPP. A major core-value at Suffolk is “caring.” And through the many service projects and initiatives Suffolk has ventured in, as well as the level of conviction we carry out on our many jobs nationwide, I can see how immense the parallels between “caring” and “work hard, be nice” are.

Being given the privilege to build this educational institution is the ultimate way for me give back as an alumnus and lifetime Bronx resident. While preserving the very principles that KIPP planted in me all those years ago, I would be building more beacons of hope for generations of families like mine for years to come.

Sincerely,

Joshua Ojo

a proud KIPP alumnus?

To hear the rest of Josh’s story, click here:?https://www.fortystories.suffolk.com/6-josh