Corning Scholars have finished teaching their first Freedom School on the campus of North Carolina A&T University. Hear from some of the Corning Scholars about their experiences, learn about the unique educational approach at Freedom Schools, and find out what NC A&T’s Dean of Education is doing to bring more Black students into teaching – and why “pipeline” is a misnomer.
Transcript
Sissy 0:09
you're listening to Vital Voices, a podcast from Corning Incorporated, exploring the innovative ways companies can be a force for good.I'm Sissy Siero,
Millicent 0:18
and I'm Millicent Ruffin. I am with the Office of racial equality and social unity here in Corning New York. The chanting at the top of the episode came from the kids participating in an amazing program called Freedom School. This past summer 1000s of students in over 150 sites across the country participated in a freedom school near them. He milsim Can you tell us a bit more about Freedom School? Freedom School is sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund. And it is an excellent opportunity for students to continue learning over the summer and to get extra help that they may need in areas of literacy reading comprehension, etc. So one of the things I really love about freedom school is they start each morning with Harambee and no matter what location no matter who the teachers are, each day in Freedom School starts the same way with this enthusiastic morning chant that gets all of the students excited about learning for the day. And so Harambee actually means let's pull together in Swahili
Kids: Freedom School, how are you feeling?
Fantastic. Terrific! Great! All Day long! Wow!
McKenzie 1:36
Oh, let me hear you say Freedom School. How are you feeling? fantastic! Terrific! Great!
McKenzie 1:44
We're showing them like what we are doing is fun and it's enjoyable. And you can also learn from it and take it outside of this class and like what we do in the classroom doesn't just have to stay there.
Sissy 1:54
That's McKenzie. She's a sophomore at North Carolina a&t University. She was one of eight classroom leaders known as servant leader interns, or SLI is at the Freedom School. And the Freedom School was hosted on her college campus this summer,
McKenzie 2:08
when we do Harambe every day, you know, supposed to be very high. And so we are the ones who have to, you know, start off with that nice and good energy because in the first few weeks, they were all uncertain about it. Like this is something new, when they go to school, they don't start off with all these cheers and chants. So we had to set that energy and after they seen that, it's like they're like, Okay, my teachers, they're cool with this so we can do it as well.
Millicent 2:33
Harambe is all about getting children ready and excited to learn. And it's not just getting them excited about core subjects like reading math and science, but also non traditional subjects like civil rights and climate change. On this particular campus. Most of the kids in Freedom School are students of color. And so these lessons are very relevant to their history and to their current living environment.
Paula 3:03
I have been a fan of freedom schools for a very, very long time.
Millicent 3:08
That is Dr. Paula groves price. She is the Dean of the College of Education at North Carolina a&t And we spoke to her this past spring as she was getting ready to host Freedom School for the very first time.
Paula 3:24
It's been a dream of mine to host freedom schools. So when I first came to a&t, for me, it was a no brainer. It was a great opportunity to really serve the community and also to provide opportunities for our Educator Preparation students to have that hands on experience, really working as teachers earlier in the game. We spoke
Millicent 3:46
with Dean price about the history of freedom schools and their tie to the Mississippi Freedom Schools of 1964, which really opened the door to education for people of color.
Paula 4:02
Back then it was really more about having a culturally responsive space for children to learn in a time when there was so much social unrest going on. And it was also a time where you had a lot of college students teaching the children while these marches were going on. So that is a significant portion of freedom schools that has remained. It's a very intergenerational model. And so we have servant leader interns, who are our college students who are serving as those teachers. The youth are then looking up to those college students. They're having lots of conversations that they probably wouldn't have with an old person like me, that they're happy to have with a person who is 21. Right. So the model is really also built on kind of ensuring that the generations continue to sort of fight for justice.
Sissy 4:58
When I visited the NCAA T campus Dr. Price gave me even more historical background about the school's importance to the civil rights movement.
Paula 5:06
One of the things that really attracted me to come to North Carolina a&t is the history and the legacy of this university. Justice is really a core of the identity of AMT. When you think about the North Carolina a&t For, some call them the Greensboro for we call them the a&t for who really started the civil rights movement with their sit in at Woolworths. That is a strong part of our legacy here. So it's just a wonderful university. And I just feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of it.
Sissy 5:41
And really, it's the education for people of color that Dr. Paula groves price is most interested in so much. So she made it her major while at UC Berkeley, but
Paula 5:51
intellectual work has really been focused on what does black liberatory education look like? I did an interdisciplinary field studies major, and I titled it people of color and education, you know, didn't have the culturally responsive language back then. But it was really my way of bridging anthropology, sociology, all of the social sciences, with education specifically focused on students of color.
Millicent 6:16
So in addition to the formal interview with Dean price, I also recorded a recent zoom conversation I had with her. Hey, how are you? Like,
Dr. Price 6:26
I finally got the link? It was in spam.
Millicent 6:32
Oh, geez.
We talked a bit more about how our relationship started and a few other things. So you'll be hearing that throughout this episode as well. Yeah, 2020 was a bit of a, I don't know a cloud, right? Yeah. It's kind of fuzzy. Like Corning and North Carolina a&t had an initial meeting around this collaboration that the two organizations wanted to create. And everything was very focused on engineering and business and sciences. I said, Well, how about education, because we're also really focused on what we can do to help support minorities in education.
Paula 7:15
From that first conversation. It felt like we had had multiple conversations before and yeah,
Millicent 7:22
it was organic, the way our collaboration, and I'll now claim friendship has evolved. And so I'm really grateful for where we are now. And the work that we're doing together.
Paula 7:36
What really struck me being a dean in a college of education, was the commitment that Corning and of course, your office, really had to racial justice in 2020, we would hear a lot of companies have their line about how they're committed to social justice. But what was really, really evident for me in our conversations, was that you all were very serious about it, number one, but number two, you were looking past kind of the immediacy of right now, but also planning for what should we do about this from now and into the future. That's where our conversation about the needs in education really began to take off. And we really started talking about the impacts of teachers of color. So that was really exciting for me.
Millicent 8:33
Two years ago, Corning and North Carolina a&t entered into a five year agreement that provides scholarships and fellowships for both undergrad and graduate students in engineering, the sciences and education,
Sissy 8:50
and Millicent, Can you share why that's important?
Millicent 8:52
This is important for multiple reasons. Number one, we are investing in education for future leaders. And number two, we are a part of what North Carolina a&t is known for, for turning out the highest number of Black Engineers annually. And so it feels like a great thing to be a part of and being on this trajectory for a change in our nation.
Sissy 9:24
That's exactly right. And I want to get back to Mackenzie now since we were talking about all this. She's a servant leader intern that you heard from earlier. She's also according scholar that I spoke with and we wanted to hear about her reasoning to participate in the program.
McKenzie 9:38
I was doing some research on like literacy rates and they're kind of low in young black males, if I could teach them okay, this is how you sound out a word then when they get older. Although they might not know that big word. They know the tools to help them figure it out themselves. So I just wanted to be a part of that to help with that foundation.
Paula 9:56
I strongly believe that if we really want to divert supply the STEM workforce for the future, we also really need to diversify the teachers who are going to inspire students who will even consider going into a STEM field later in life as they go into college.
Millicent 10:17
What I love about this approach is that it helps build a pathway so that more educators can inspire kids to pursue STEM, as opposed to focusing on the kids themselves. Yeah,
Paula 10:30
I'm one who doesn't believe in a pipeline, I think that the conversation about the STEM pipeline feels very linear. And there are always leaks in a pipeline, there's sort of this idea that you start in one spot, you move people along this continuum, and then you get to the end product, right. So whether or not it's access to programming, or access to education, that sort of inspires people to even want to be in a STEM field, you start to lose people along that pipeline, if we shift our metaphor, in terms of thinking more about a stem ecosystem. Now we've opened the conversation, to thinking about what are all of the different elements that holistically widen the pipeline?
Sissy 11:20
You know, when she said that, that's the first time I ever heard it said that way a stem ecosystem. So Millicent, you're the scientist, what do you feel when you hear it but like that,
Millicent 11:30
we're looking at the situation as a system, as opposed to, you know, the linear timeline.
Paula 11:38
We're also looking for opportunities to help students who may not have ever considered being a teacher, they may catch that bug, once they really feel the joy of what it feels like to really see a light bulb flicker on in a student and there's really no feeling like it. So we're trying to provide more opportunities for students who are non majors to work with youth in the hopes that that might actually pull them into education as a major.
Millicent 12:12
Dean prices comments remind me a lot of what we heard from Dr. Valerie bridges Superintendent of Edgecombe County Schools, and Matt Smith, principal of the Early College High School about how important those early classroom experiences are for prospective teachers.
Sissy 12:30
Yeah, you know, and Dr. Price feels so strongly about the importance of getting students involved in teaching experiences. And that's probably because she told us it's how she fell in love with education herself as an undergraduate student,
Paula 12:44
I began working with kids fourth graders that the district and the school system had pretty much said, they are probably going to drop out. I'm like, wait a minute, are we saying we're already giving up on fourth graders. And we're already saying that they're pretty much not going to make it to high school. And so I was a part of a program where we as undergraduate students went and did before school tutoring, particularly in mathematics. And after school tutoring, and the joy, the pure joy of seeing them just completely flourished. And at the end of the academic year, I will never forget, teachers came to us and they said, What's your magic? They said, these kids can't multiply and divide. How are you working with them on algebra? I said, Oh, no, they can multiply and divide. But what we were doing was really making it real for them. We did a lot of work that was really culturally responsive. Now at the time, I didn't have that language. But that's essentially what it was. We looked like the kids, right? We listened to them. And we made everything completely irrelevant. And they absolutely flourished.
Sissy 13:56
They made it real. It's amazing that you got to have that experience. They have
Millicent 14:01
that natural level of trust, because it's coming from someone who looks like them, or who maybe has had the shared experiences that they've had. And they're putting it in context of things they experience in their daily lives. And that does such a great job of bringing down barriers.
Paula 14:21
The teachers just could not understand how it is that these kids that had pretty much been written off. Were completely brilliant. And it was over from there. I'm like, I've got to be an education and education for me was filled with hope, because to me, it was a way to really make a difference to inspire people and to change life trajectories early on.
Sissy 14:47
Dr. Price believes that through the cording Scholars Program, you know, students will experience what she did when they start interacting with students in the classroom,
Millicent 14:57
which leads us back to Freedom School. Six of the servant leader interns from last summer's Freedom School at North Carolina a&t recording scholars, and we were able to speak to three of them before freedom school began, including mackynzie, who you heard from earlier.
McKenzie 15:15
Hi, my name is Mackenzie sprinkle, and I am a corning scholar.
T'asia 15:19
Hi, my name is T'asia Williamson, I am an elementary education major and I am recording scholar.
Leila 15:24
Hello, my name is Leila watts. I'm a corning scholar and I'm a freshman elementary education major,
Sissy 15:31
I had the opportunity to meet these three awesome young women to Asia was only 18 years old. And already a rising senior in college, I couldn't believe it.
T'asia 15:40
I come from a low income household. So I knew that I had to be twice as good and work twice as hard as all of my counterparts. So I worked hard throughout my entire middle school and high school experience. And I think that hard work and dedication is the one thing that you need in order to be a corner scholar.
Sissy 15:57
And Mackenzie is a rising sophomore. She told me she's always loved school.
McKenzie 16:02
Everybody calls me a nerd just because I actually like being in school. And then I just wanted to share that with students because I love little kids. So I've had to share my love for education with them, then maybe they'll enjoy a little bit more and not look at it as something that they just have to do. But maybe they'll want to do it.
Sissy 16:20
Then there was Leila. She just completed her freshman year and is a star student too. But out of the three seemed the least certain about her choice to pursue education as a career.
Leila 16:30
I didn't like know exactly that I wanted to be a teacher. I kind of want to be everything. Like I want to be a lawyer. No psychologist,
Sissy 16:37
Leila realized something that opened her eyes to the idea of becoming a teacher.
Leila 16:42
I was always teaching my cousins. And like, every time I babysit, I wanted to play school. So I knew that I had a love for it more than all those other things. So yeah, I chose
teaching. One of the perks
Millicent 16:52
about the Corning Scholars Program is that twice a year, we host professional development workshops. So they get to practice what it means to attend the business dinner, how to present oneself, and here's to Asia, talking about that experience,
T'asia 17:07
you're going to know that I'm somebody who's professionally well kept, you're going to know that I'm somebody who's passionate about what I do. And I think that that'll be present. And that'll be obvious before I even open my mouth. But it's enough to know that when I do have something to say, I'm going to be taken seriously because I've had the professional development to do so
McKenzie 17:23
someone would come and teach us basic things and rules you will like need to know or should know when going out into professional settings. And this is McKinsey again. So like, what is your brand? How do you want to be viewed even smaller things that we may not think about such as like dinner etiquette. And so when I'm at a business lunch, let's not try to order the most expensive thing on the menu just because we know we're not paying for it. Let's stay focused.
T'asia 17:52
Overall, the entire experience has just been transformative and to have been provided with the opportunity like this, especially as HBCU students is like something that's unheard of, but so appreciate it.
Sissy 18:02
Another important aspect of the Corning Scholars Program is the firsthand teaching experience. Here's T Asia again, I think it's really cool
T'asia 18:10
to see how you can go from being a student to being presented with this opportunity to where you are now like the teacher
Sissy 18:18
to Asia, Leila Mackenzie hadn't really been in front of a classroom before this summer is Freedom School at NCAA and t. And that must have been quite an eye opening experience for the young women. Here's Dr. Price talking about this,
Paula 18:32
it'll be their first experience as a teacher in the classroom, we are going to have them paired up so that you know they're not completely nervous about oh my gosh, I'm the teacher, right. But we want them to be able to feed off of each other on different, you know, teaching ideas. But we also want them to know that they've got support
Sissy 18:52
T'Asia, Mackenzie, Leila, and the rest of the summer servant leader interns went through extensive training to get ready to teach and this training was provided by the Children's Defense Fund.
Paula 19:03
We also did an additional week of site training with our professors, as well as with our site coordinator who serves as our principal. So they had a week to really kind of think about the theme of their classroom, decorate their classroom, start writing lesson plans.
McKenzie 19:20
So they have our lesson plans for us. But we of course have to type it out figure out what activities it is we want to do. This is Mackenzie again. And then we did something called model back. So we would create our lesson plans and our PowerPoints and kind of model it for our trainer of how we would do this in the classroom. And she really helped us with what we should improve on and then what we did good and what we should keep.
Sissy 19:45
The first day of Freedom School was June 30 2022. And we heard everybody was buzzing with excitement.
Millicent 19:52
Each week. Freedom School had a specific theme. And so the first week of the program centered around that the aim of making a difference in oneself. And mackynzie explains a little bit about that for us,
McKenzie 20:06
we read a book every day we do discussions about it. And in those books, it's always something about how we can, you know, make a difference and a change. So we're not only trying to help them retain this information that they may lose over the summer boss, letting them know that you can make a difference and everything. So the first week, we started with ourselves, of course, because in order to make a change, you always have to start with yourself, right, and make sure that you're right and focused. So they
Paula 20:31
did a lot of activities, writing activities, reading books, about who am I self identity, those kinds of things. The integrated reading curriculum is a core part of every free to School program.
Sissy 20:44
Some of the other themes of the week, were making a difference in your family, your community, you know, and finally the world.
McKenzie 20:51
And we always correlate that back to the stories that we read and the different activities that we do as well.
Millicent 20:57
They also took the students on field trips to places like the Civil Rights Museum and science museums, yeah. And then included a dedicated one hour of STEM activities every afternoon.
Sissy 21:10
Yeah. And it sounds like such a cool opportunity for these kids. And I was really looking forward to following up with Dean price at the end of the program to see how it all went.
Paula 21:19
Our teachers, oh, my God, they were so nervous and shy in the beginning. And when I walk into those classrooms, they have just a completely different ethos in how they are now feeling that they are a teacher, it is just amazing.
Millicent 21:39
Dr. Price also shared how the students learned a lot about timing when they're creating their lesson plans.
Paula 21:48
So we've debriefed daily. And one of the things in week one, they learned is that sometimes things that they thought were going to actually take 30 minutes took three minutes. Yeah, and then there were things that they thought would take three minutes that took 30 minutes, and to have that experience as a brand new way that they were doing things that we hadn't even taught them yet in the educator preparation program. Right? How
Millicent 22:21
about that? Yeah.
Sissy 22:24
So let's, well, let's hear from Leila. Remember, she was the one who was least certain about becoming a teacher.
Leila 22:31
I'm definitely for sure now, because this experience has showed me that I love love, love kids. And I feel like I'm actually really good at teaching. I'm excited to get three more years of education. But I think that I'm ready. I think that I'm ready.
Sissy 22:47
You know, it's it's so interesting, because I remember talking to her in the spring, and she just was like, man, maybe I don't know. But to hear that turnaround and that connection to more of a heart connection to it like she can feel it.
Millicent 22:59
Yeah, isn't that great. I mean, that's what I love about these opportunities is that the teachers find their voice, but they also find their passion and their talent at teaching.
Sissy 23:13
Right, right. Right. So Leila was a co teacher with McKenzie and spoke a little bit about that experience.
Leila 23:20
I think that it's been really easy working with McKenzie, she's really just good at going with the flow of things. And even if she doesn't agree with something, I say, or I don't agree with something, she says we don't want to show that to the kids. So we definitely work together.
Sissy 23:35
And here's Mackenzie,
McKenzie 23:36
anytime that I may need help. I'll say, Hey, Miss Leila, can you give your take on this, because mine may not be clicking with them, which is fine. So we just go back and forth, and feed off of each other as well as take turns. And if we see something that one of the others doing that works best for the class and really gains their attention and keeps them entertained, then we'll do that.
Sissy 24:03
And of course, teaching came with its own challenges. Remember, the doctor Price said they started off so nervous, it was a little scary
McKenzie 24:09
at first, because you want to make sure that for one, what you're saying is like good enough, you want to make sure that you're never telling them anything wrong, and they really do feed off of your energy. So if you're uncertain about something, they'll catch that and they'll create chaos.
Sissy 24:25
Something else Mackenzie told us is that she really struggled with determining where the line was when it came to bonding with the students versus you know, disciplining them.
McKenzie 24:35
I was telling misled, I was like, I don't know if I need to lay off a little bit on the discipline or do more of like, sometimes I don't know which one I need to do. When it comes to you know, helping a child is different approaches. You don't just call them out in front of a classroom, you don't do anything you wouldn't want done to you. Right, so maybe you just need to go and sit and have a talk with them. Maybe it's things at home He, or is more personal. So I think that personal bond definitely mattered more than the discipline.
Millicent 25:07
What a great perspective to have that maybe it's things at home, or maybe it's more personal. And let me just sit back and think of different ways that I can reach this child that I think that's wonderful.
Sissy 25:21
Yeah. And that goes right back to, you know, really seeing a person for who they are. And then they feel oh, well, I'm worthy of that. Right. And I think that does go a long way with self esteem. Yeah. So I also spoke with to Asia again. And I really appreciated her honesty when it came to her battling with some biases.
T'asia 25:37
As an educator, there is a stigma that surrounds kids that come from Title One schools. And you never want to play into that stereotype or that stigma, but it always is a little nugget that's in the back of your mind, like, are these kids going to be eager to learn? Are these kids going to be reading on grade level, and to see that I had such a wonderful and complex group who was able to articulate their feelings, emotions, and articulate the way that they feel about school, it was extremely embracive and inspiring feeling. I had to shift my perspective and my mindset on what these students were capable of. And I had to just give them a chance. And I think that this solidified not only my passion for teaching, but my passion for activism and being able to advocate for kids specifically, who can't speak for themselves.
Sissy 26:29
I mean, what do you feel when you hear that that knocks me out these these young women, you know, to hear her say that?
Millicent 26:34
Yeah, it's really beautiful. And I think that this is exactly the point of why we need more diversity in our classrooms, and why we need more teachers of color. And what I really love about th his comments is she really took an approach of student centered teaching, and focused on what the students needed to really flourish.
Sissy 27:00
So what's important is that she kind of saw herself in these kids. And I think that that's what seemed to really click for her.
T'asia 27:07
I think too many times I have been put in that box of limitation. So the things that society says that you have to do because you look a certain way, or you come from a certain background, or you're a certain gender or race, or whatever the situation may be. And I did not want to do that with these kids. I wanted to give the students an opportunity to show them themselves not only but show everyone who was looking at them, all the eyes that were on them, that they are capable and able to do whatever they want, as long as they put their mind to it.
Sissy 27:35
th has said she was really surprised by what had changed the most in these students during Freedom School,
T'asia 27:41
I think I was more so excited and a change in like literacy and learning and things like that. And while that did occur, I think the greatest change that I noticed was a change in their hearts. And I know that sounds a little cliche, but we went through so many sessions and so many talks and meetings being like we need to be kind to other people, we need to empower and uplift others like we have to be able to be an agent of change for other people. Like we have to really show people that as black people specifically. And as people of color, even though we are put into this box that that's not what we're defined by.
Millicent 28:17
That's really great. And that is the power of students being seen, being heard and being known.
Paula 28:25
I see the kids and I see their growth. Kids that walked in that were really shy, because we do haram Bay and so many songs and cheers and chants. They are talkers. You know, part of the curriculum is really about really helping children understand that their voices are incredibly important. And they actually can do a lot for justice. Right. And so just seeing their growth, particularly in terms of being able to express themselves has just been amazing.
Millicent 28:54
Separately, Dr. Price told me an amazing story about her son, who was also a participant at Freedom School last summer, just as a
Paula 29:03
quick sidebar. So my son who's nine years old, he attended our freedom school program this summer. So he's very high achieving student, but he always calls himself awkward. And he always said that, that at school, he doesn't talk very much. What was interesting in my conversations with him this summer, because I was asking him, I said, well, in Freedom School, do you talk very much? And he says, oh, yeah, I talk a lot. From my regular school, really, really how so? He said, first of all, it seems like the teachers really want to know what I have to say. And they really encouraged me to share my thoughts about different things and they do it in a way that makes me feel really comfortable. He said and the other kids in the class seem to really be interested in some of my thoughts and ideas as well and it feels like everybody Edie in the classroom actually cares. Wow. And what he said to me was really profound, because really what he was telling me, were all of the things that, you know, if you really understand what culturally responsive pedagogy is about, that's pretty much what it means giving back to me. And I, you know, I was thinking more and more about it and more about our Freedom School Program. And for me, what was really powerful about that was, again, that social aspect as well.
Sissy 30:33
So it sounds like Dr. Price is really looking forward to holding Freedom School and NCAA and ti again next summer. And she said that one, she wants it to be even bigger and better.
Millicent 30:43
Dr. Price is not only expecting to grow Freedom School, but she's expanding with the creation of Aggie Academy.
Paula 30:52
So as you know, we have been selected by the Children's Defense Fund to be one of five freedom school after school programs that will run this year nationally. So there's only five mantastic will be one of them. We are starting our laboratory school Aggie Academy for grades three, four, and five. So the same grade levels really that we had in our freedom school program. So happy to share that we are absolutely ecstatic because our cordoning scholars are going to be working in the after school program. So now our students really have almost a year round, Freedom School opportunity. So I am convinced this is going to be an amazing year.
Sissy 31:47
So you know, in all these programs, they're continuing to broaden the ecosystem. And it's so important that more students of color, consider careers in education,
Millicent 31:57
we're certainly excited about reaching more students with the Freedom School. But we're equally excited about getting more teachers of color into classrooms. So
Paula 32:08
if we look at the numbers nationally, the teaching workforce is pretty much 90%, white and female, our school population does not look
Leila 32:18
that way. I've never had one black teacher, honestly, I've had some substitutes. But they came a few times, and I never really see them again. So I know that that seeing someone your color feels good, especially in the classroom, and seeing that they can be just as smart as you know, a white teacher or a white man, then it definitely feels good.
Millicent 32:40
I think it's important to know that teachers of color in these classrooms are not only important for our diverse students, it's important for all students. And one of the things that research has shown is that when white students are taught by teachers of color, it does two things, it helps them break down stereotypes they may or may not have had. And it also helps them build cross cultural competencies. And when you think about what our college classrooms look like, what our work environments look like, our students need to be able to fluidly move in between cultures for every part of their adult life. And so the sooner that they can debunk any myths or stereotypes about other cultures, the sooner that they can build these cross cultural competencies, the more successful there'll be, as professionals,
Sissy 33:41
you know, Milson, when I think back on all the stories we've heard over these five episodes, and I really think about all the work that Corning's doing through the office of racial equality and social unity, I feel blown away by how involved you all have been in these programs.
Millicent 33:58
Thanks to see we are also I mean, we are just so fortunate to have a team of people who will let us come in and experience it right along with them, right? Because we don't want to write a check and just walk away. We want to be able to sit down and have these conversations with Jackie, we want to be able to talk with each of the scholar teachers. We want to be able to mentor our Corning scholars and build relationships with the educators and leaders in the school districts and really be a part of the transformation that we envision and that's what makes the partnership with Edgecombe County Public School District and North Carolina a&t and Elmira school district. So worthwhile.
Sissy 34:47
Yeah, boy, do I hear that being involved in it is what you've been saying, you know, all along. And I think that's what makes it so special. Because as we know, collaborations, make everything better. Everything's stronger and I would love to end this by returning to her rhombi. Again, here's Mackenzie.
McKenzie 35:05
So every morning in the Harada, we have this motivational song and you're singing the lyrics and you're kind of like, they're just, they may be just kind of doing it or internalizing it, but for me, like, I'm really internalizing the motivational song and I'm feeling it and even today, today is the day before I last day and I'm singing the song and I'm doing the chants with them. And I'm feeling myself getting emotional. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, like, I love what I do like this is what I want to do forever.
Millicent 35:33
Not only did Harambee inspire the kids at Freedom School, but it also positively impacted the servant leader interns. And so we'll leave you with T Asian leading the kids and singing something inside so strong by lobby Sifri enjoy.
McKenzie 35:51
Alright 321 Hi. Bury
Paula 36:02
me come
McKenzie 36:09
away faster
you can you can decide.
Millicent 36:24
Thank you for listening to Vital Voices. Check out the show notes to read more about the importance of black educators and the stem ecosystem at North Carolina a&t University.