In Ms. Acosta’s 7th grade ELA & Social Studies classroom, at MIT, the reporters observed the ELA students were learning and practicing synonyms. A majority of the students seemed like they were paying attention, but there were some who were not looking at the screen or having side conversations. Despite the chatter, Ms. Acosta was calm and patient, never once raising her voice. 

Many of Ms. Acosta’s scholars described how nice she is. One student, Nailee, said, “I like that she doesn’t yell at us, like when we’re loud or misbehaving.” She also explained, “I think this class is interesting, because sometimes it can be really loud and sometimes it can be really quiet.” 

Additionally, Zeva, another student, said that her favorite things about McKinley are the classes and teachers, which are “really good”. Zeva also rated Ms. Acosta a solid 9/10. 

One student described Mrs. Acosta’s class saying, “We are doing a lot of stuff, but she’s overall really nice.” 

Another student,, Dani, said that all of the McKinley classes were slow for her, but added that, “Mrs. Acosta’s class is generally a little slow, but it’s a good curriculum.” She also explained one of her favorite parts about Ms. Acosta’s ELA class, “I like that we have 10 minutes to read everyday, so we can calm down and have, like, a chance to fill in our reading logs”.

With some ongoing tension and stereotypes between North Star and McKinely, the students were also asked what traits about their school that they wanted North Star scholars to know. 

Dani stated that, “I want the NSA students to know that we are not as bad as you think, and sure, there are some people who make MIT seem bad, but we’re nice.” 

“Everyone here is different,” Kevin, another student, said.

Nailee also stated that “I want the NSA community to know that we’re cool.”