Friday, July 8, 2011

P.S. 131 for the win

Michal (Mike) Khafizou, a fifth-grader at Public School 131 in Brooklyn, recently won first prize in an essay contest sponsored by Hamilton Parkway Collision. From the New York Daily News:

Borough Park auto body shop owner Brian Nacht has come up with an interesting assignment for students that combines a love of cars with good essay writing.

For the past 15 years, Nacht, owner of Hamilton Parkway Collision on Fort Hamilton Parkway, has asked public school fifth-graders to write an essay: “If you were a part of a car, what [part] would it be?”
Brian Nacht sounds like a good guy. And Michal Khafizou sounds like a creative student with a great attitude toward learning. Excerpts from Michal’s winning essay:
When I first came to [my teacher’s] class, I felt disappointed in myself . . . so if I was a part of a car I would be the GPS. . . . The GPS is a part of a car that guides you if you are lost. . . . The work is not too hard; you just have to see what is in front of you.
Congratulations, Michal, from a former P.S. 131 student.

P.S. 131 class pictures
1962–1963 1963–1964 1964–1965 1965–1966 1966–1967

More P.S. 131
P.S. 131 on television
P.S. 131 in 1935 and 1979
The P.S. 131 fence (A photograph)

[Fort Hamilton Parkway is a Boro Park thoroughfare. Boro Park is a section of Brooklyn. For residents, it’s usually Boro, not Borough. I’d be a rear-view mirror, looking into the past. How about you?]

comments: 3

Elaine said...

I'd be a carburetor, with the sparks being all of the ideas I have that need to be turned into quilts or such. However, I'm not sure we have carburetors any more.

Andy said...

Nice story. Good to see someone outside of schools encouraging kids to write. It makes me feel quite old though to think that GPS navigation is considered part of a car now, rather than a miracle accessory of space-age technology. I guess that means I would be a window crank or cigarette lighter, something a little old-fashioned.

Robert Gable said...

I'd be a transmission, since my Dad was an automatic transmission engineer for both GM and Chrysler. To this day, I don't like manual shifting.