Carla Cota

 I hail from a small border town in Nogales, Arizona. Where I attended The Orme School, a college preparatory boarding school in Arizona. After I graduated in 1994 I attended Lehman College, part of the City University of New York. While I was at Lehman College, I studied anthropology and biology a multi-disciplinary study in order to combine my love of ethno-botany. While at Lehman, I also took classes at the New York Botanical Garden to study botany with some of the most renowned scientists in the world. It was there where I began to work as an educator for the Green School, teaching school age children basic botany. While I was at NYBG my love of enthobotany was transformed into a passion for molecular biology, and shortly after I received a Minority Biomedical fellowship with the NIH.

As a Minority Biomedical Research Scholar I was lucky to work with Dr. Eleanor Wurtzel, professor and chair of the Biology department at Lehman College and Dr. Paul Matthews, a research scientist. I participated in research to investigate carotenoid accumulation in important food crops. In Wurtzel’s lab, we focused on the worldwide Vitamin A deficiency which is linked to diets deficient specifically in pro-vitamin A caroteniods. The goal was to understand, at the molecular and biochemical level, how plants regulate the biosynthesis and accumulation of provitamin A carotenoids in the seed endosperm tissue. This research will lead to improved strategies for predicting plant chemistry and enhancing provitamin A carotenoid content.

In the course of my studies, my research and expanding interest in academia I decided to explore more of the world. I applied to the School for Field Studies where I headed to Kenya, Africa to study wild life management and conservation. I graduated from Lehman College in 1999 and had no idea what I was going to do with myself. So during the summer, I took a job with Wave Hill as a camp science educator. As the summer was drawing to an end I had the serendipitous moment of interviewing for a 5th grade teaching position. I was hired at Juan Pablo Duarte Public School as a 5th grade teacher. I spent the next three years as a 5th grade teacher at PS132 where I become a devoted educator.

After three years in the classroom I became disenchanted with the public school system and decided to write an ethnography on the “Perspectives of School Age Children on their Learning Experiences” and I began my Masters degree in Urban Anthropology and Urban Education at The City College of The City University of New York.

After my studies I realize I miss teaching, miss being part of the classroom, and I apply to the New York City Teaching Fellows Scholarship. Having been accepted as a New York Teaching Scholar to teach science I am proud and honored to be part of the CSS team.