Teacher instilled in kids love of science
‘Pillar of school’ killed by truck in E. Harlem
Heartbroken colleagues Friday mourned a beloved middle school science teacher who was fatally struck by a box truck in East Harlem on her way to work.
Helen Sink, 57, was hit by the turning truck Thursday morning as she crossed Lexington Ave., four blocks from Public School 7, where she introduced scores of youngsters to science during a decorated two-decade teaching career.
Devastated colleagues struggled to process the loss.
“Dr. Sink, she was one of the pillars of the school,” Cesar Nina, a former principal at P.S. 7 told the Daily News. “Everyone is just trying to face reality right now … it’s very tough.”
Sink, a native of Australia, was legendary among colleagues and students for her exacting standards, sense of humor, and burning passion for teaching and science.
She was “humble and with a deep sense of mission and purpose,” Jacqueline Spruce Harvey, another former principal at P.S. 7, told The News. “She believed every student was capable of being a scientist.”
Sink demonstrated that belief by holding her preteen students, the vast majority of whom lived in poverty, to the standards of professional scientists, her colleagues said.
Sink single-handedly turned her East Harlem classroom into a science lab, spending her own money to buy specimens for students to dissect and initiating a partnership with New York University to bring scientists into her class to help with experiments and talk about their careers, they added.
“Her dissections were legendary,” said Spruce-Harvey. “The students were mesmerized.”
Her hard-driving approach sometimes raised eyebrows among Department of Education higher-ups, Spruce-Harvey recalled, but with students Sink was as generous as she was demanding.
“She would tutor kids. She wasn’t doing it for overtime pay or anything,” said Nina. “She would volunteer to stay after school.”
Her results were undeniable. Sink had her eighth-grade students take a New York State
Regents science exam meant for high school students — and every youngster passed for at least five years in a row, Spruce-Harvey said.
The achievement caught the notice of DOE officials, who awarded Sink a prestigious “Big Apple” teaching award in 2016.
More concerned about her work than accolades, Sink spent the award money buying snakes and chickens for her classroom, her colleagues said.
Yet as serious as she was about her mission, Sink filled the classroom with humor and warmth.
“Her jokes were also legendary,” Spruce-Harvey said. The former principal used to teach a math class after Sink, and said students spent part of the period retelling “Sink jokes” from the prior period.
Sage Hunter, who taught science in a school that shared the building with P.S. 7, told The News that Sink had “a very interesting sense of humor and her Australian accent made it all the more entertaining.”
She believed deeply in letting students experience the natural world, rather than dryly lecturing them about science, Hunter said.
“Kids can really be really ‘bleh’ about science,” said Hunter. “She was the cool teacher.”
Sink’s loss will be especially difficult to absorb in a year that’s already taken so much from students and families, Nina said.
“We already have so many stressors with COVID and the ongoing changes. Now we have this tragic news to add on top of it,” he said.
P.S. 7 families were notified Friday of Sink’s death, along with Sink’s family in Australia.
“Ms. Sink was a beloved member of the PS 7 community and a phenomenal educator,” DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer said. “Her tragic passing leaves a hole in the DOE community and she will be deeply missed. We are providing supports to the school during their time of grieving.”
Sink’s legacy will persist through the many kids she inspired, her colleagues said.
“Her thing was kids, and not just supporting kids, but really challenging kids. And they loved her for it,” David Baiz, the former principal of a school that shared a building with P.S. 7, told The News. “When you see an educator like that pass away, it’s just heartbreaking.”