Institute members Elijah Heyward, John Saunders, and Bernard Holloway recently participated in “Keepers of the Dream: Advancing Research Policy & Practice in Urban Education” at Yale University. The conference was hosted by the division of Psychiatry at Yale’s School of Medicine. Participants discussed the current status of urban education and ways to improve it. Keynote speakers were Jonathan Kozol, a nationally acclaimed author and educator, and Dr. Edmund Gordon, a social activist and psychologist who studied under the legendary W.E.B. DuBois.
The conference was attended by educators from all over the United States.
On Friday, Heyward moderated a workshop entitled, “Curriculum Enrichment for Urban School Teachers”, which focused on mathematics and sciences. Holloway and Saunders served as featured panelists for “The New Crisis in Education: Disengaged Boys,” a panel discussion addressing today’s education policies and the ways in which they affect young men.
Heyward, an alumnus of the Institute, completed his first year as a student at Yale Divinity School last month. He is spending the summer working as a Yale Public Service Fellow. One of his projects was to help organize the conference. In the future, Heyward would like to help African American men achieve their highest potential through creating programs centered on mentorship.
Holloway, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is also interested in creating programs to help encourage African American youths to excel academically. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he intends to study education policy as well as become involved in government in his home state. During his high school years, Holloway served as a member on the Prince George’s County, Maryland Board of Education and collaborated with other students to write the book Freedom’s Answer: Too Young to Vote but Old Enough to Lead, which addressed civic engagement and political participation among young people.
Saunders is also interested in education reform. He would like to create educational programs in affordable housing developments to help underserved children get the necessary academic support needed for success. While attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Saunders served as an academic advisor to first year students and worked with the University’s Undergraduate Admissions department to increase the number of minority students on campus. This fall, Saunders will enter New York University’s Robert F. Wagner’s School of Public Service to study Urban Planning.