Ayoka Stewart

3rd Grade Teacher

Ayoka Stewart is originally from Oakland, CA and is the daughter of two educators. When she was in upper elementary, her parents started a free Saturday Math and Science academy called the African Children’s Learning Lab, which served students in the East Oakland community. Watching her parents build institutions such as these inspired Ayoka to commit to serving her community as an educator and creative. While earning her BA at Smith College, Ayoka was a summer Servant Leader with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School. After college, she served as a Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools for two years before transitioning into teaching full time at Bushwick Ascend Elementary School in Brooklyn, NY in 2014. Since then, Ayoka earned her Master of Arts from Relay Graduate School of Education and has taught 3rd and 4th grade with KIPP. She has served on her grade teams as a lead Math planner, lead literacy planner, and intervention teacher. Her favorite subject to teach is Math, which is ironic given that she didn’t think she was very good at it growing up. She came to ANCS in the 2019-2020 school year and has been loving her experience. She has a passion for sparking critical thinking and new discoveries for her students. In 2022, she earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgia State University.

In her spare time, Ayoka enjoys spending time with her husband Christopher and her pitbull mix Marshawn, as well as dance classes, cooking, riding her bike and hiking.