Public-School Educator
Band-Director 2009-Present
Band-Director-Durham Public Schools: 2018-Present
I have had a fulfilling 14-year career as a band director in Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Durham, North Carolina.
I have had the pleasure of fostering wonderful moments of educational growth, creative expression, and musical literacy among my students. I have also witnessed the impact of socioeconomic risk factors that my students endure.
All fourteen years of my teaching experience have been in Title-I, low-income communities. In my time serving these communities, laundry insecurity has been among the most consistent forms of stress that students endure.
In Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Durham North Carolina, I have found that stress, socio-emotional turmoil, and health risk factors that laundry insecurity presents often inhibit student learning in the classroom. When children are unable to attain consistent laundry security, they have no choice but to de-prioritize educational growth on their list of critical life needs. When students and their families cannot consistently wash their clothes due to financial strains, it makes sense that educational success is often a struggle.
In creating the concept of Uplift, our core mission is to provide low-income families with the opportunity to eliminate the financial burden of maintaining laundry security. By doing this, they will have a greater chance of achieving success in education, social-emotional wellness, and lifelong success.
