[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4060-4061]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING SHEILA JOSEPH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 2008

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Sheila Joseph, a 
native New Yorker, daughter of Haitian immigrant parents and raised in 
public housing, Ms. Joseph conducted her undergraduate studies at the 
University of California at Berkley where she double majored in 
psychology and legal studies, with a minor in education, earning her 
Bachelor of Arts degree in just three years. After graduating from 
Berkley in 1994, Sheila began her legal studies at Georgetown 
University Law School in Washington, DC. While a student at Georgetown, 
she worked as a student attorney handling juvenile delinquency cases in 
the District of Columbia Superior Court.
  Upon completing her legal studies in 1997, Ms. Joseph returned to her 
native New York and spent the next four years working as an attorney 
for indigent clients, first as a staff attorney with the Neighborhood 
Defender Service of Harlem, then as a law guardian with The Children's 
Law Center of New York. Based on her experiences as a law student and 
lawyer, she became increasingly frustrated by the limitations of the 
law as an instrument for empowering young people and communities. She 
determined that the best long term course was to be an educator and 
have a positive impact on children and impoverished communities.
  In 2001, Sheila Joseph applied for, and was accepted into, the New 
York City Teaching Fellows Program and taught math and science at P.S. 
40 in Queens while earning a Master of Science degree in Elementary and 
Early Childhood Education from Queens College. In September 2004, Ms. 
Joseph began a one-year residency with Building Excellent Schools, a 
prestigious and rigorous Boston-based program that trains and supports 
aspiring charter school founders. She founded the East New York 
Preparatory Charter School in August 2005.
  East New York Prep, ENYP, opened its doors to 100 kindergarten and 
first grade students in September 2006 to ensure that boys and girls 
growing up in East New York would have the same opportunity for a good 
life as children in wealthier communities. ENYP's mission is to address 
the specific needs and challenges of children in East New York to 
ensure that students achieve or exceed grade-level mastery of academic 
content, knowledge and skills.
  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to recognize Sheila Joseph and her 
impressive accomplishments in academia. Her passion and concern for 
inner-city children's educational needs is noteworthy indeed.

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