Employee Directory

Amy Richards

• World Languages Faculty
• Email
• Dyker Heights
• Middle School, Upper School

“Working with immigrant families and living throughout Latin America has taught me that things almost never work out as we expect.”

Middle and Upper School Spanish teacher Amy Richards came to Poly in 2020 after having lived in Mexico City, where she taught language and ceramics. “Previously, I worked for a grassroots, Latinx, community-based organization in New York City, on everything from civic participation to managing our food pantries and Community Health Worker program,” she says. Since 2012, Amy has also facilitated service-learning break experiences in U.S. cities with the Civic Education Project, based at Northwestern University. “In 2013-14, I was a Fulbright fellow in Bogotá, Colombia, where I worked at the Universidad Minuto de Dios and co-founded a mural arts project for peace initiative with youth.” Amy says she fell in love with Spanish in middle school and that “it has been the most enduring love of my life.” She was inspired by her AP Spanish teacher, Señorita Lopez, who was kind and fair but “always left room for play.” She carries those lessons over to teaching Grades 5, 6, and 9 Spanish at Poly. When not teaching, Amy enjoys dancing salsa, samba, and hustle.