PS 102 is a large neighborhood school with a friendly atmosphere and a strong school spirit. It has a traditional tone: Children start the day by reciting The Pledge of Allegiance and singing The Star Spangled Banner. They wear white shirts and red ties on assembly days. But the school also has integrated the latest technology in the curriculum. Kids videotape their own assemblies and class plays. They use computers and digital cameras to publish their own school newspaper and yearbook. Classes for the vision impaired have computers with extra-large letters on the keyboards and giant fonts on the screens.

Long a Norwegian, Italian, and Irish neighborhood, Bay Ridge has become multi-ethnic in recent years. Children at PS 102 come from more than 50 nations. English-speaking parents say their children learn tolerance and respect for other cultures when, for example, a classmate fasts for Ramadan. On the other hand, having a large number of children struggling with English sometimes holds back children who are fluent in the language. "PS 102 is a large school and I thought my son would get lost," said a mother who transferred her child from a small private school. "But he has excelled in PS 102." The school has a full-time art teacher. It has a large special education program. The school has a gifted, or "Delta," program for high-achieving children. Children are tested in February for admission to the gifted program. (This school is featured in New York City's Best Public Elementary Schools. Clara Hemphill, updated 2002)