PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Her work helped inspire a Hollywood hit. Now a former Philadelphia public school teacher is being memorialized in the neighborhood where she once taught.
A block of 59th Street south of Lancaster Avenue, just outside of Overbrook High School, will now forever be known as Joyce Abbott Way, in honor of the namesake and inspiration of Quinta Brunson’s Emmy Award-winning hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary.”
School district and elected officials recognized Abbott in the high school’s gym on Tuesday.
“I’m just humbly honored, just very humbly honored,” she said. “I’m a teacher. I’m West Philadelphia-born and raised, and the inspiration for the name of an Emmy Award TV show. It means a lot.”
Abbott was a graduate of Overbrook before earning a business degree and serving in the Army during Desert Storm. When she came back, Abbott became a middle school teacher in West Philly, where she stayed for more than 25 years, teaching mostly sixth graders. Among them was a young Brunson.
Abbott says she was driven to give it her all, and she pushed her students to be their best.
“I was determined to make the lives of the students better, ensuring that they had a chance at this thing called life.”
A former student, Alexis Ukaha, was in attendance at the commemoration event. Like Abbott, Ukaha is a sixth-grade teacher today.
“Coming from West Philly, people who look like me are often seen as ignorant without even opening our mouths,” Ukaha said. “Something she really just kind of hammered into me was to always articulate, so I try to preach that to my students.”
Another former student who was there is 33-year-old Shakeera Wynne.
“Ms. Abbott was one of the hardest teachers I’ve ever had,” Wynne said. “I currently have two degrees — I’m working on a third one — and she was harder than the professors I’ve had in college.”
Abbot’s demanding nature came from her time in the Army and from a burning desire to better her community.
“When I started my teaching career, it really meant a whole lot to me,” Abbott said. “It was not only in my blood, but I had a true passion to help my community and make a difference.”
Now, the street sign at 59th and Lancaster will forever bear her name.