With over four decades of experience in education, Erica Zigelman serves as the principal of Middle School 322 in New York City. She belongs to the New York Academy of Public Education as well as the city's Middle School Advisory Committee. Principal Erica Zigelman remains on the lookout for programs designed to give MS322 students greater learning opportunities.

Real champions know that success means setting goals, realizing those goals, and encouraging others to aim just as high. In the fall of 2012, students at MS322 and other schools across New York City's boroughs wrote about what being a champion means to them. On November 9, over 300 students handed in essays for the "Be a Champion" Essay Contest. One hundred students were selected as winners, six of whom attend MS322.

All the essay contest winners joined their teachers and administrators for an award ceremony at Baruch College on December 12 that same year. Each winning writer received a certificate of recognition and personal congratulations from Greg McElroy, quarterback of the New York Jets.

As the ceremony wound down, MS322 contest winners and educators posed for a group photo, displaying their framed certificates and brilliant smiles.