Ryan earned his master’s degree at Penn GSE, and currently works as a research consultant. Reading at the intersections of autonomist marxism, post-structuralism, and critical literacies, Ryan intends to continue scholarship while organizing education collaboratives. His broader research interests include youth’s political geographies within-and-beyond community organizations, radical theories of power, and decolonial epistemologies of space.
Read MoreLaShawnda earned her M.S.Ed. from Penn GSE’s Education Policy Program, where she also worked as research assistant for the Racial Empowerment Collaborative. A first generation graduate of the University of Virginia, Brooks joined Teach for America in 2009, serving for two years in Atlanta and later worked as an instructional coach for City Year. She now directs Philips Andover Academy’s Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers.
Read MoreOlivia DiNucci currently works at Penn Global with interest in pursuing a masters in international development with an emphasis on gender and social justice. Prior to coming to Penn, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco working primarily with women and girls empowerment initiatives.
Read MoreDorothy Villarreal is a master’s student in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate, Dorothy became fascinated by the power of higher education to shape and guide students from all walks of lives through transformative experiences. As a first-gen immigrant and scholar, she is interested in exploring the valuable contributions minority students bring to the universities in which they enroll, as well as deepening the understanding of the ways in which universities help support these students on campus.
Read MoreMenen Stroud is completing her master’s degree in Education, Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. She is interested in how schools can be transformed into sites of liberation, with a particular interest in how activism can play a role in that process. Menen is originally from Oakland, CA, and hopes to take her research and learnings back home to work with the communities in which she grew up.
Read MoreMia Shaw is a currently a PhD student in education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is interested in examining the effectiveness of making and project-based learning (PBL) in STEAM education for Black and Brown youth, particularly in the spheres of student voice, identity development, and creativity/innovation.
Read MoreBiridiana Rodriguez is a former elementary teacher of four years. She is now completing her Master’s in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and evaluation interests encompass the implementation and effectiveness of language policies in southeastern states experiencing a large population influx of immigrants. She hopes to continue serving as an advocate and resource for English Language Learners nationwide.
Read MoreA student in GSE and a writer at heart, Amiri holds strong convictions about the universal right of human beings to be treated with dignity, afforded freedom, and allowed to seek fulfillment. His hope is to live in such a way that his work affirms and honors this belief, and that he never relinquishes his abiding passion for candor, empathy, education, advising, inquiry, programming and art
Read MoreAllysen Marks is completing her Master’s in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. A native of the south, she is passionate about youth activism as a source of societal change. In the past she has worked as an advocate for urban and rural youth living in under-resourced and highly disadvantaged education-deprived environments. She hopes to continue this work as an outspoken activist in situations where education policy decisions are made.
Read MoreLarissa is a PhD student reading across sound, music, and Africana Studies. She thinks about the ways in which we accidentally reproduce the violences we seek to dismantle in our societies. She is invested in exploring forms of imagining and realizing better worlds that are neither ethically bankrupt nor standing to ideological inaction.
Read MoreMichaela is a student in Education, Culture, and Society program. She’s interested in youth-led activism and the intersection between legal advocacy and community organizing, with an overarching interest in anti-racist policy and resource allocation in public schools.
Read MoreAlicia Chatterjee is completing her masters in education at the University of Pennsylvania and starting her PhD in social work. She is broadly interested in intersections of engaged healing and justice. She came to Activism & Education with a background in organizing with survivors of intimate violence, especially survivors of color, and with an interest in activism as an effort towards healing.
Read MoreErin Waddles was a master’s student in the University of Pennsylvania’s Higher Education Division. To enhance her experience, she worked as a graduate intern at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, where she supported all of the programming and training at this center. Her professional interests center on promoting equity, access, and diversity in higher education.
Read MoreBetsy Boggs is a master’s student in the Education, Culture, and Society program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is originally from rural South Carolina and has spent many years working and studying the intersections of race, housing, and education in rural Alabama. She hopes to continue working alongside rural communities--specifically in the rural South--as an advocate for equitable educational opportunities for students and families in those communities.
Read MoreShanell Hagood is originally from Detroit, Michigan. She is a first-generation low-income college student currently completing her M.S.Ed in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a strong interest in college student activism surrounding campus racial climate.
Read MoreConnor is undergraduate senior interested in the intersections of political science, and arts education. He will be traveling to Thailand in the fall to study alternative education & project based learning. Please check out his photography website at www.connoraugustine.com
Read MoreA native of the Chicago suburbs, Henry is a committed advocate for educational equality and providing greater resources to college access to as many different students as possible. Henry graduated with an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Higher Education administration program. He currently serves as the principal of North Shore Tutoring Company in Highland Park, Illinois.
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