The NAF Academy of Information Technology alumnus from Alonzo Tracy Mourning Senior High School is giving back by helping the next generation of NAF students be college, career, and future ready. In just over a year as the NAF Academy of Information Technology Lead Teacher at North Miami Beach Senior High School, Mr. Bernstein has helped expand the number of internships by 700%. Additionally, 2019 was the first year the academy has graduated NAFTrack certified students! He has transformed the academy to offer a wider range of professional opportunities to students and recently invited Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, to speak over 200 students. Building on his opportunities as a student at Alonzo & Tracy Mourning Senior High School. Mr. Bernstein is committed to creating a Model/Distinguished program filled with career awareness, exploration, and preparation for our future leaders.
Mr. Bernstein accept his award at the 2019 NAFNext Conference in Detroit, Michigan
“This award is a tremendous honor and I want to begin by thanking the teachers I had in South Africa, where I grew up and in Florida, where I found my way to the Academy of Information Technology at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School. I wouldn’t be here had you not been there. …..
…For me, the road here has not been without its bumps. When I was 10 years old, I was involved in a car accident. My neck was broken….I was put in a halo brace and was out of school for several months. …
My hero, Nelson Mandela, said education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. In South Africa, I saw firsthand how many children struggle to have that….
When I was a middle schooler in Cape Town, our community service group got a chance to volunteer at a very poor school in an incredibly poor community. There was no actual school building. The classrooms were huge containers from a cargo ship. Among many other things, the kids there needed food, both breakfast and lunch.
So we raised money for kitchen equipment, which got them fed, which got the attention of the Province Minister for the Western Cape, which eventually got students regular meals.
Our determined little group 7th, 8th, and 9th graders turned that ship around….”
