Bernette Ramdass
STEER Advisor
Careers in Sports High School (Bronx)

Bernette Ramdass was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but she came to the United States in the 1980s. She is a graduate of Aquinas High School, College of Mt. St. Vincent (BA), and City College (MA). During her undergraduate and graduate years, she majored in English literature with a concentration in Middle English literature and Postcolonial literature. For most of her teaching career, she has mainly taught 11th grade students. At Monroe Academy for Business and Law, she taught Advanced Placement Literature and coordinated the AVID (Advancement VIA Individual Determination) program.  She currently teaches at Careers in Sports High School where she also serves as the chair of the English department.

According to Bernette, her father influenced her view of education and of life. Her father firmly believed that the best way to learn something was through practice. He was a teacher in St. Vincent and the Grenadines so he instilled in his children the value of education. When they had difficulty doing something, he would say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” As a child, this saying brought frustration because Bernette could not always see a clear path. As an adult, she understands that there are many paths we can take to achieve our goals. Having taught English for over twenty years, she knows that the role of teachers is to help students find ways of achieving their goals. “Their path may not be the one we want them to take; however, we can guide them in the right direction by being a positive role model and a safe haven when the path appears too difficult and the goal seems impossible to achieve.”