Editor’s note: The Staten Island Advance/SILive.com is proud to dedicate its annual Women of Achievement program, established in 1964 and celebrated every year since, to local heroes; we are calling it Staten Island Women of Achievement 2020 – The Front Line. When we put out a call for nominations, we received many heartfelt words about these brave women, who have made such a difference in our community throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We are publishing parts of some of these nominations, as they are the true voices of the impact of these true heroes. Congratulations to this 2020 Woman of Achievement: Suzanne Fortuna-Paccione.
This nomination was submitted by Patricia Fortuna, the nominee’s sister
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- I would like to nominate my sister, Suzanne Fortuna-Paccione. She is a fifth-grade teacher at Our Lady Queen of Peace Elementary School in New Dorp.
I watch her, and I don’t know how she does it.
Papers to grade, plans to be completed, homework checked, dinner cooked (she is an excellent cook), family time, and thinking about her students and their families.
Then March arrives, and school is interrupted and remote learning begins with a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old with autism, and students from her classroom.
“My own children became my students. In a short amount of time, I became their teacher, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and a physical therapist all at once,” Suzanne told the Advance/SILive.com.
“Throughout this horrific pandemic, I thought to myself, ‘I wasn’t born to just teach. I was born to inspire others, to change people, and to never give up,’ even when faced with challenges that seemed impossible. My children and my students gave me the strength every day to get through these most difficult and challenging times.’
Suzanne is pictured here with her sons.