Having “a woman in the room” while she took technology classes in high school helped light the pathway to success for Karina Budhu, the winner of this year’s Edwin Espaillat Award at the 2025 CTE Awards Recognition Ceremony.

A Success Via Apprenticeship apprentice in her fourth year of the five-year program, Budhu aspires to become a high school technology teacher, and she credits her high school mentor and a female SVA apprentice instructor for setting her on her path.

“Teaching is where I find purpose, and they helped me find that,” she said. “I am a woman in tech and I want to inspire more girls to get into tech.”

Budhu says her passion for technology was sparked while she was a student at Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical Education HS in Queens. Budhu, a first-generation American from Trinidad and Tobago, said she had little direction regarding her future before Alexander Bell — who himself was among the first graduates of the SVA program, now celebrating its 40th year — encouraged her to take a computer repair course.

“Mr. Bell opened my eyes to IT, and I really enjoyed it, found a passion for it,” she said.

Over the next two years, Budhu took various classes with Bell, who became a mentor. She also was inspired by having a female SVA apprentice, working with Bell, instruct some of her classes. Seeing a woman at the head of the class broke stigmas for Budhu about whether women have a place in tech.

“There was a woman in the room,” Budhu said. “It opened the door. I wanted to be just like that.”

Budhu, who graduated from Edison HS in 2020, served as an apprentice teacher at the Brooklyn STEAM Center in her first year of the SVA program and at the Williamsburg HS of Art and Technology in her third year.

She describes her teaching style as one of “relaxed discipline” with an emphasis on meeting deadlines. She credits the training and mentorship she’s received in the SVA program for making her a more effective teacher. This year, Budhu is on an industry rotation with a school technology company as part of her SVA training.

Through the SVA program, Budhu already has earned her bachelor’s degree and is on her way to earning a master’s in cybersecurity. She sits on the UFT CTE Committee and is part of the AFT/UFT teacher leadership program.

Bell, now retired, recalls Budhu’s time as his student and is proud of how far Budhu has come via CTE.

“CTE not only gives you that leverage of your content, but it also gives real-world skills that the academic classes cannot provide,” he said.