In conversation Diamond Howard and her “sister friend” and mentor Simone Woods reflect on their friendship, their respective journeys and their reactions to recent demonstrations against racial injustice. Transcript Simone: So how did we first meet and what is your first memory of me? Diamond: We first met at…
In conversation Terra Spears reflects with her two sons, 22-year-old Arius and 20-year-old Amari, about their childhoods and how racism informed her ideas on parenting. Terra is mixed race and identifies as Black. Arius and Amari’s father is Black. Transcript Terra: What is your earliest memory of race as a…
In conversation Kirstin Cheers and her mother, Kathleen Myers, reflect on the trials of 2020 and years past and on their relationship through it all. Transcript Kirstin: So you and I have been navigating this virus together. We live together. Kathleen: You know what? We have our moments, but I…
In conversation Friends and colleagues Adenia Linker and Tonya Howell reflect on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their work with students and teachers as social-emotional learning educators in Chicago Public Schools. Transcript Tonya: Adenia, what would you say has been the biggest shift in our work together since the beginning…
In conversation Alyssa Payton speaks with her seven-year-old son Dylan about adjusting to changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transcript Alyssa: How did you feel when you learned that we would no longer be able to go back to school? Dylan: I was sad because I would miss all my friends.…
In conversation Carolina Hernandez, assistant dean of students at Lehigh University, speaks with Lehigh student Stella Garriga about their career journeys, their South Bethlehem community and what gives them hope for the future. The two work together in the Community Service Office. Transcript Carolina: My parents fled Cuba as refugees,…
In conversation 17-year-old Taha Vahanvaty and his advisor, Cynthia Crowner, discuss the work that Taha has done with The Acceptance Project or TAP, which creates a space for students of different social or political beliefs to have conversations. Taha is a high school senior in Stroudsburg, Penn. Cynthia is a retired Presbyterian minister and the…
In conversation Tonya Whatley tells her sister Lisa McKenzie about losing her two-year-old grandson, the impact it had on the family, and what helped her get through it all. Transcript Tonya: Lee was my second grandchild from my daughter. He was gentle, very loving, and affectionate. Lisa: Very. Tonya:…
In conversation 18-year-old Hope* and her friend and longtime mentor, Sonia Vazquez-Young, talk about their journey together. The two met when Hope was in kindergarten in Bethlehem, Pen. *Hope is a pseudonym. Transcript Sonia: Do you remember coming into kindergarten when I was first working at the elementary school?…
In conversation Roniece Gilkey speaks with Janessa Jordan — a high school teacher who has taught her three sons — about changes in education during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extra burdens that students, teachers and parents have all had to take on. Transcript Roniece: As a teacher, how is…
In conversation Sisters Gloria and Isabel Pappaterra recollect their educational experience and what they wish they had learned in school. Transcript Gloria: We are children of immigrants. Our father is Puerto Rican and our mother is Cuban. Our father is also deaf. So we were raised in a household…
In conversation Bill Milliken tells his colleague and mentee Jane Mentzinger about how he came to found Communities In Schools and how the organization has developed since then. Transcript Bill: They didn’t know back then where I grew up about learning differences and I didn’t know I had a learning…