Q: What is your title at GCAA?
“High school math teacher.”
Q: How many years have you been in education?
“Seven.”
Q: Where did you get your degree?
“Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois.”
Q: Why did you choose education?
”Specifically, I choose special education and math education because those are the areas black people are most oppressed, so I got into education to help provide pathways for minorities to get out of poverty.”
Q: “Why do you think black people are oppressed in those areas?”
“There’s evidence through the school and prison pipeline that shows that people who go to prison most frequently are those who struggle with mathematics or didn’t graduate high school because of math concerns, and also people with learning disabilities or other emotional disabilities. So, statistically some of the higher influences of incarceration occur from people of color, people who didn’t graduate, or had learning disabilities.”
Q: “Where did you work before GCAA?”
“Special School District.”
Q: “Why did you leave”?
“I left because I desired working at a performing arts school.”
Q: “Why did you choose to apply for a position at GCAA?”
“Honestly, I’ve always wanted to work at an arts school and a bunch of coincidences collided for me to be here and it worked out.”
Q: “What coincidences, how did they line up to bring you here?”
“Personal decisions and opportunities aligned.”
Q: “How do you think your previous experience will benefit you as a teacher at GCAA?”
“It taught me how to be flexible and how to actually care for people.“
Q: “Why is it so important that students/people know you care for them?”
“I think that’s the only way we grow as individuals is through being loved and cared for.”
Q: “What has been your favorite part of working at GCAA?”
“Seeing all the students and also seeing them be fun and creative.”
Q: What is your least favorite part?
“Staff that don’t care about the kids.”
Q: “How do you think this affects the kids?”
“I think it shuts kids off to the possibility of learning in that area when they don’t feel cared for.”
Q: “What do you look forward to most this school year?”
“The kids being awesome and creative.”
Q: “What’s so creative about what they do?
A: “The performances, the art pieces, the growth, and being able to see some sort of cumulative work that kids have worked hard for because not all kids get that opportunity.”
Q: “How does their creativeness make them better students?”
“They are learning and growing in new ways, they are not stagnant. “