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Radical Thought & Community Mobilization to Reclaim Our Schools

With Akilah Allyene, University of Delaware--Doctoral Candidate Curator

Our Black History Month Monday Conversation takes a look at promising practices to place student voice at the center of learning and decision making.

Radical movements across the nation seek to build widespread awareness of strategies that foster the development of healthy identities in Black and Brown students, disrupt systemic educational racial inequities and mobilize students, parents, grandparents and concerned citizens as leading voices in public school transformation.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Elise Sampson

Elise Sampson is a junior at Smyrna High School. She has served as class president, a student government association officer, leader and founder of the Black Student Union at her school, and proud co-founder of Delaware Black Student Coalition. Elise also serves on the State Board of Education as the student representative. Elise was selected for the Governor’s School of Excellence for 2020. She is dedicated to advocacy for students and minorities in Delaware. Looking toward her future, Elise has her sights set on a law degree and a job as a civil rights attorney.”

Tariah Hyland

Tariah Hyland, is a current high school senior at St. George’s Technical High School, where she studies Emergency Medical Services. She plans to further her education at Howard University with a double major in Criminology, and Psychology. Tariah is a part of many advocacy organizations and has co-founded two by the name of Teens Drive Change, and the Delaware Black student Coalition. In all, Tariah is extremely dedicated to serving her community, and leading change.

Akilah Alleyne

Akilah Alleyne is a PhD candidate and research assistant in the department of Sociology & Criminology at the University of Delaware. Her research interests focus on the impact of state-level education policies on students’ home-to-school commuting experience, school choice, plans to attend college and other education related outcomes. Through her work, Akilah aims to reveal hidden factors and structural barriers that may result in stratified student experiences by race, class, income, or social identity. These may include inequitable school funding systems, major school closings, and slow investments in local school building or rebuilding. In her work, Akilah continues to brand herself as an interdisciplinary scholar through her work drawing on the intersections between sociology, education, social policy, and criminology.

Apryl Walker

Apryl Walker is the Lead Trainer for Network Delaware’s Ella Baker Black Organizers Group (EBBOG), which prepares aspiring Black (African-American, Caribbean, African, Afro-Latinx) organizers wishing to improve their skills to make an impact for racial justice and fight for Black liberation. This small group immerses participants in the fundamentals of social change organizing, base building, leadership development, and campaign planning.Apryl has worked in the community organizing field for over25 years, and in partnership with Delaware communities since 1998. She regularly facilitates trainings on eliminating oppression, comprehensive peer counseling, community building, and leadership development for Delaware professionals and community leaders. She has also led workshops on these skills throughout the UnitedStates, as well as in Kenya and South Africa.For more information about and/or to apply to the Ella Baker Black Organizers Group, please visit https://thenetworkde.org/ella-baker-black-organizers-group.

The Ella Baker Black Organizers Group is for aspiring Black organizers across
the Diaspora wishing to improve their skills to make an impact for
racial justice and fight for Black liberation. This small group immerses participants in the fundamentals of social change
organizing, base building, leadership development, and campaign planning.


Dr. Evelyn Edney-Head of School Delaware State University Early College High School

Dr. Edney has served on a number of important boards in the state including the Delaware Women’s Alliance for Sport & Fitness, the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, the National Association of  Secondary School Principals, the Delaware Association of School Administrators, the Delaware Association of School Principals, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Delta Kappa Gamma Educational Sorority International. In addition, Dr. Edney has participated in Vision 2015  Delaware Executive Leadership Training and the Vision Network. She graduated with both Bachelor and Master of Arts in English degrees from the University of Delaware and a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Phoenix.