[applause] when i opened mott hall bridges academy in 2010, my goal was simple: open a school to closel is located in the brownsville section of brooklyn, one of the most underserved and violent neighborhoods in all of new york city. like many urban schools with high poverty rates, we face numerous challenges, like finding teachers who can empathize with the complexities of a disadvantaged community, lack of funding for technology, low parental involvement, and neighborhood gangs that recruit children as early as fourth grade. so here i was, the founding principle of a middle school that was a district public school, and i only had 45 kids to start. 30% of them had special needs, 86% of them were below grade level in english and in math, and 100% living below the poverty level. if our children are not in our classrooms, how will they learn? and if they're not learning, where will they end up? it was evident when i would ask my 13-year-old, "young man, where do you see yourself in 5 years?" and his response, "i don't know if i'm going to live that long." or to have a young woman say to