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Campaign Aims to Create Memorial Scholarship in Inwood Teacher's Name

 Amy Sims was a teacher at the City College Academy of the Arts before her sudden death in June 2013.
Amy Sims Memorial Scholarship
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INWOOD — Amy Sims is not an easy person to forget. A gifted math teacher with a dry sense of humor, Sims had strong opinions that she did not shy away from sharing with others.

“She taught me so much about being a strong woman and speaking your mind,” said Kristy Gallo, Sims’ friend and former colleague. “I still find myself, when I get stuck, asking, ‘What would Amy say about this?’”

The Inwood resident died suddenly in June 2013 from a blood clot in her lungs. She was just 41.

Remembered as a firm but fair instructor who pushed her students,  Gallo and other friends are now trying to raise $2,500 through the fundraising site GoFundMe to create a scholarship fund in Sims' name. The scholarship would be given to one graduating senior of the City College Academy of the Arts each year to help defray college costs.

“I know firsthand how much Amy loved working with her students,” Gallo said. “We thought one of the best ways to honor her would be to continue to help students in her name.”

Sims, an Inwood resident of several years, started teaching math at the City College Academy of the Arts at Broadway and 196th Street in 2006. She started with a group of seventh-grade students and moved up with them in class every year until they graduated in 2012. She also spent much of her last few years teaching early college courses to students at City College.

Sims was an exacting teacher who held her students to high standards, they said. Those who complained or whined that they could not do something were often met with a matter-of-fact “Deal with it.” 

"Sims was the reason I passed my Trigonometry Regents," said former student Gianni Llano, who graduated in 2012. "She was not my instructor for the class, but one week [working] with her and I gained the confidence I lacked."

Llano said Sims also lectured her constantly about making sure she wore her eyeglasses.

"Now everytime I wear them, I can't help but think of her," she said. "Ms. Sims is someone you could never forget."

Sims’s tough exterior was more than matched by her warm and generous spirit, students and friends said. She was known for her trademark silver Doc Martens and boisterous laugh.

In December 2011, Sims adopted a pit bull that was found tied up and shivering outside of Papasito restaurant on Dyckman Street Thanksgiving Day.

“I'm always amazed that people can be so cruel to animals and that animals who are mistreated can still be loyal and forgiving and sweet companions,” Sims told DNAinfo at the time.

She christened the dog Georgia and the pair became an active part of Inwood’s dog-loving community.

On June 13, 2013, the day before her students’ Algebra II/Trigonometry Regents exam, Sims called Gallo to let her know she was not feeling well and going to the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed her with a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lungs. Although they attempted to treat the embolism, Sims passed away that evening, Gallo said.

"She was someone I would've loved to see at my wedding," said Erik Reyes, who also graduated in 2012. "It sucks because when she passed it was like we were all crossing that line from her being our math teacher to our really close friend. That's how close we all were with her."

Gallo and other friends, including Sims's boyfriend and Inwood resident Christos Pencoglu, are still working out the details of the scholarship. However, Gallo said that the award will be at least $500 per student, with the goal of setting some of the money aside to create a fund to support an annual scholarship. If they raise more than their goal, the organizers plan to increase the scholarship amount.

So far they have raised $690 through GoFundMe and hope to create some partnerships with local businesses to keep grow the fund.

Scholarship recipients will be chosen for a combination of their academic performance and leadership skills.

“We want it to be someone that really reflects who Amy was,” Gallo said.