Stella Mitchell-Porto

Educator | Coach​

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Stella Mitchell-Porto ‘86 praises her time at Fort Hamilton for paving the way to not one but two fabulous and fulfilling careers. Honored with the Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award and The Attorney General’s Triple C Award, Stella participated in three sports every year where she became Captain and MVP of Softball and Volleyball her senior year. 

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She also joined the Arts Department and had a role in the productions of Hair and Grease.

She was recruited to play softball at Long Island University Division 1 with an Academic Scholar Athlete Scholarship. She helped her team win the ECAC’s in 1986.

 

 In 1987 Stella transferred to the College of Staten Island where she spent the remainder of her NCAA years as a Captain while also garnering Leadership Honors in both in Softball and Volleyball.

Stella has provided leadership support in academics and sports, as a college athlete, coach, and school administrator for over 30 years. 

 

She worked 30 years in the New York City Department of Education with licenses in special education k-12, Assistive Technology Director and School District Administration Special Education. She earned her Bachelor’s and MS in Special Education from The College of Staten Island and her SDA Ed. D from The College of St. Rose in Albany.   

 

During her time in CUNY, her softball team won three CUNY Softball titles. As a young special education teacher she was chosen to represent technology integration for the largest special education district in the world, D75. There she was selected to the NYU Professional Development Laboratories Program where she was working with the NYCDOE Central & District offices creating programs for integrating technology throughout New York City Special Education Classrooms. 

 

Stella was inducted into The Who’s Who for Assistive Technology in 2005. She also earned The Don Johnson Outstanding Educator Award in 2005 and 2006. She later left the district to work in the largest special education school site (24 schools we were a part of) as an administrator in charge of Alternate Assessment, where she helped develop a 1:1 computer initiative middle school program, alternate assessment PreK.