"Classrooms should be free of biases and deficit thinking in order for Black and Brown students to have a fighting chance"

 

Why did I launch EQUITY QUEST? I have lived in two worlds. Born in the midwest, my father moved our family to Colorado when I was in 1st grade. My entire K-12 experience was in schools that were 98% white where I learned to navigate as a Black student wholly disconnected from Black culture. After graduating, I enrolled in an HBCU (Historically Black College/University) where I flourished socially, academically and culturally. 

 

I began substitute teaching and quickly developed a love for the profession! I pursued a teaching degree and graduated with a Masters in Education from The Ohio State University. In college, I requested that my advisors place me in high poverty schools, because I knew I had skills and talent for connecting with students of color.  I taught for twenty-two years.

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Several years ago, I was teaching side-by-side with white teachers in a school serving students of color when I noticed instances of the teachers "othering" the children of color. I decided to apply my experience as a veteran urban teacher to be part of the solution. I applied and was received into the University of Denver's Ph.D. program with a cognate in Critical Race Theory (CRT) with the goal of combining my experience with research to help white teachers build relationships, reach and teach students of color.

 

EQUITY QUEST is my effort to create a unique, immersive opportunity for white teachers to enter a brave space of learning and acquiring culturally responsive teaching and pedagogical practices. Racist ideologies take years to develop, and it takes time to deconstruct them as well. 

 

EQUITY QUEST is designed to dismantle teachers' biases and deficit thinking in order to better serve and support their Black and Brown students. 

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Equitable education is a journey not a destination. Join me on the journey!