---

---

for New York Family's FREE weekly newsletter with our picks for the best family events, resources, shopping, giveaways, and fun in the city and beyond. CLICK HERE

One Part Mom, Another Socrates

Renaissance students says she teaches them to think and loves them like a mother

By David Gibbons

By any measure, the Renaissance Charter School is a shining example of its kind in New York City. Thandi Guimaraes is a lynchpin of the school’s success, fulfilling multiple roles.

Guimaraes has taught required courses in history, government and economics to 11th and 12th graders at Renaissance in Jackson Heights for the past 10 years. She is also senior advisor, ushering each year’s graduating class of about 45 students through their final year of high school. She is a member of the student support team, which deals with individual cases of hardship and discipline, and faculty advisor to the student government.

“She consistently challenges her students to think deeper and think differently,” said Renaissance principal Stacey Gauthier. “Her demeanor is one of calming strength. She has a quiet way of keeping students’ attention—even when ‘senioritis’ hits.”

Rebekah Oakes said her son, Kadin Wisniewski, worked harder on papers for Guimaraes’ class than any other, and often enthusiastically brought home discussions started there.

“Thandi really made me think—not just analyze and infer but take an idea and think about its larger implications in life,” said Wisniewski, headed to City College. “I’ll always remember one day when she went around the class and asked everyone what role religion played in their lives… It wasn’t so much the content of our talk that stuck with me but the fact that my friends and I continued the discussion all day, long after class was finished.”

The Socratic Method is at the core of Guimaraes’ teaching philosophy and practice. In fact, when asked to expound on these, she began with a quote from the ancient Greek philosopher himself: “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

Growing up in Ozone Park, Guimaraes, who declined to giver her age, recalls observing members of her community from all walks of life helping people in need. Consequently, she decided on a career as a human rights lawyer and was headed for law school after graduating from St. John’s with a B.A. in economics. But her experience teaching adult literacy classes altered her course.

Among her students, “There was one grandmother and another woman who was an ex-addict single mother with several young children. They did not have high school diplomas, they had large families to support, yet they were very determined, hopeful, full of spirit and kind towards one another. It was the best two years of my life to date, and law school took a back seat,” she said.

She got her education masters at Queens College in 1995. After a brief stint in a large high school, she transferred to Renaissance and the rest is history.

For Karen Campos, who graduated with the class of 2010, and is currently completing her freshman year at Boston University’s School of Management, Guimaraes surpassed her roles as teacher, senior advisor and mentor, to become a mother figure: “She was always available to listen about academics and personal challenges. When you had no one to share your distresses with, she was always there. She would give you what my friends and I would call ‘the Thandi look’ and you knew you were going to spend a long afternoon in her room after classes were over just talking.”

_
Thandi Guimaraes
Renaissance Charter School
35-59 E. 81st St., Queens