For more than two decades, Nick Pesola has been a teacher at Marble Hill School for International Studies, a public high school in the Bronx. In that time, he has taught everything from chemistry to AP Calculus. But perhaps his most transformative work began seven years ago, when a sabbatical year in Philadelphia shifted the direction of both his career and his school’s future.
During that year, Pesola joined Penn GSE’s Experiences in Applied Computational Thinking (EXACT) program, a professional development initiative led by Betty Chandy and designed to help educators integrate computational thinking and emerging technologies into their classrooms. At the time, he had already been teaching for 14 years but felt that Marble Hill was missing something essential. “Our school was strong in the humanities and foreign languages,” he said. “But we were neglecting the whole 21st-century skill set of technology. I wanted to change that.”
Pesola’s path to teaching was not straightforward. He graduated from Cornell University in 1999 with a degree in Materials Science Engineering and initially planned to pursue a career in that field. But after working in the industry for two years, he joined the Peace Corps and served as an education volunteer in Malawi, an experience that shifted his focus toward education.
“I honestly never thought I’d become a teacher,” he said. “But when I came back, I chose to see where education would take me, and I kept going with it.” He went on to earn a master’s in Mathematics Education from Lehman College at the City University of New York (CUNY) and a master’s in building administration from Baruch College, also a CUNY school, which qualifies him to serve as a school principal.
After completing the EXACT program, Pesola returned to Marble Hill with a clear goal: to build a technology program from the ground up. He started by introducing AP Computer Science Principles, giving students their first exposure to foundational coding and computational concepts. As the program grew, he added more opportunities, including a 3D-printing class and a technology club that now competes nationally. Under his leadership, the club has twice reached the state finalist stage of the prestigious Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, which challenges students to use STEM to solve real-world problems.
“Before the EXACT program, I never really thought I’d pick up computer science,” Pesola said. “But the program motivated me to say, ‘Yes, I can do this.’ I went straight into teaching AP classes, creating a technology club, and focusing on innovation. It shifted my mindset to believe that all students can be part of this.”
Transitioning from math teacher to technology leader was not without challenges. “In college, computer science actually struck a bit of fear in me,” he admitted. “Even going into the EXACT program, I felt like this wasn’t what I was meant to do. But the school needed it, and no one else was stepping up.”
The experience not only gave him new skills but also changed the way he saw his role as an educator. “It wasn’t just about the content I learned,” he said. “It was the mentality. I came out of the program with the confidence that I could lead our school in this direction.”
Recently, Pesola has expanded his work to include one of the most significant technological shifts of our time: artificial intelligence. Initially hesitant about the technology, particularly around questions of intellectual property and copyright, he eventually realized that avoiding it would put his students at a disadvantage. “I could see that our school was all about trying to prevent AI from being used,” he said. “But that was a futile effort. Our students have to learn how to live alongside it, to use it responsibly and effectively, not hand their brains over to it.”
Pesola responded by launching an AI working group at Marble Hill, bringing together teachers and administrators to explore how technology could be used to enhance learning. The group began by reading Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick and held a professional development session to craft an AI mission statement for the school. “We knew many of us had misgivings,” Pesola said. “But we also knew that for our students’ futures, we had to start engaging with this.”
In his own classroom, Pesola has already begun weaving AI into his teaching. In a college research course, for example, he shows students how to write effective prompts to personalize their college searches. “It empowers them to narrow things down and find exactly what they need,” he said. “AI helps them explore careers and opportunities in a way that’s far more tailored and accessible than before.”
Technology is also helping level the playing field for students who may otherwise fall behind. “For English language learners or students who have been missing things, AI can act as a tutor,” he explained. “It’s an equalizer, giving our lowest third more leverage and helping them connect with the material.”
While Marble Hill’s AI journey is still in its early stages, Pesola is committed to pushing it forward. “We don’t have all the answers yet,” he said. “Most of us are still stumbling through this. But I’m searching for concrete systems, classroom protocols, and pedagogies that fulfill our mission.”
To that end, Pesola has reconnected with Chandy and the EXACT team, hoping to build on the program’s success. “The EXACT program changed our school in amazing ways once,” he said. “If I can be part of another program, I know it can help us grow again.”
For someone who once imagined living “off the grid” after his Peace Corps service, Pesola’s evolution into a technology leader underscores the power of lifelong learning. “Technology wasn’t where I started,” he reflected, “but it’s where our students need us to go. And if we want them to thrive in an AI-driven future, we need to build that foundation now.”
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