Personal Narrative: Steal Away Home Black Memorabilia

In an old brick house in the historic West End District is the foundation of where her life work was established and mine began. My earliest recollections of education and art making revolve around memories of my grandmother Mary Ella Willis. Grandma would use her worldly travels, personal stories and experiences create her now lifetime work called Steal Away Home Black Memorabilia to educate the community about the great history of African Americans that is often marginalized in our everyday school curriculum. Her collection consists of thousands of Afrocentric artifacts, including books, dolls, records and even a derogatory room filled with “a bit of ugly” as she would say. Such upbringing inspires me to influence and bridge cultures through
When I first decided to become an educator, I wanted to serve students reflecting a community similar to my own upbringing. I have seen a number of failed reforms that have been targeted towards inner city communities and the negative impact inflicting lower income communities. Exploring my own identity, ethnicity and background is a huge factor in my preference for minimizing the achievement gap and seeking to elevate myself as a leader to advocate for educational equity against injustices. I was inspired to be a part of the change for my community after I spent a year substituting in both Atlanta Public and Fulton County
Two Spanish educators, and an assigned substitute had thrown the towel in on this group of students before October’s fall semester, they deemed them a lost cause. With limited materials, and a lack of administrative support, I too was expected to be the fourth adult to fail them just as the system has for so long. Though I had no education or language experience, converting course with a language lab and my creatively integrating the arts made an innovative and engaging classroom, I am pleased to say I successfully completed the academic year with my Spanish 1 students with a 94% pass rate! I reflect back to this moment when I thought my place was to impact the classroom when actual development was needed in the hands of policy makers and organizational leaders. Through this experience I knew that I was the change I needed to see in my school system, and through Tufts I will to be molded into the leader that prevents such experience from other educators and leaders in the