Selina Ahoklui, Age 76
Selina Ahoklui, the 1998 New York State Teacher of the Year, died on May 22. She was 76 years old.
Dr. Ahoklui began her career in her native Ghana, in West Africa, and taught a wide range of grades in elementary to post-secondary schools in both Ghana and New York, where she was a UFT member and Department of Education employee for more than 25 years. She served for many of those years at Erasmus Hall HS for Business and Technology in Brooklyn, where she lived. It was during her distinguished tenure at Erasmus, where her Saturday math tutoring class drew hundreds of students, that she received the state honor. At the time, one of her pupils said she was “the first one in and the last one out” of the school.
After her retirement from the DOE, Dr. Ahoklui became an adjunct professor, a school supervisor and a member of the New York State Board of Regents.
Dr. Ahoklui received her bachelor’s degree from University College of Winneba, Ghana; two master’s degrees — one in art education from Temple University in Philadelphia and one in math education from Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus; and a doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
Her many awards and honors also included the Thomas Sobol Foundation Award, named for a former state education commissioner; the Title I Distinguished Educator award, presented jointly by the state education department and the city board of education; the 1996 Teacher of the Year Award for Brooklyn high schools; and the American Federation of Teachers Award. In 1997, the Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry named her its NYS Teacher of the Year “for working effectively with underserved pupils.”
Dr. Ahoklui had an affinity for the creative arts, enjoying painting, sculpting, textiles, fashion design and music, but she most enjoyed sharing her love of these arts with children. She was dedicated to the education and well-being of children but used her boundless energy to support all of her students, who spanned many ages, classes and ethnic backgrounds.
Her family says Dr. Ahoklui took great pride in sponsoring the education of not only family members, but also of other students in need. She had a penchant for caring for infants and ran a young mother’s club for pregnant and parenting teens. She was happiest when surrounded by family, friends and all their children and her nurturing also extended to animals. She loved to cook and garden in her spare time.
Dr. Ahoklui is survived by her daughter, Dorothy Dzifa Akua Ahoklui, and her son, Desmond Lebene Kossi Ahoklui.