Eight area educators will be recognized by the St. Louis American Foundation on Friday, September 14 at its 25th Anniversary Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Gala, a black-tie event that will be held at the America’s Center Ballroom.
Jason Brown: exposure to arts
Until this school year, Jason Brown was the director of Fine Arts at Riverview Gardens School District. He recently accepted a position as curriculum director of Fine Arts for Niles Township School District 219 in Skokie, Illinois outside of Chicago. Before he left Riverview Gardens, he revitalized its Fine Arts program with an infusion of grants, collaborations, community support, new musical instruments and motivated students.
“We know that exposure is one of the biggest things that students in our community lack,” Brown said. “My goal was to expose students to the entire fine arts – art, music, drama, dance – and we brought all of those facets of art into the district, which didn’t exist for probably the past six years.”
Brown is pursuing an educational doctorate degree at Lindenwood University. He earned his Master of Arts in Educational Leadership at Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary and Secondary Music Education from Eastern Illinois University.
Earnestine Carr: joy in little things
Gateway Middle School teacher Earnestine Carr has taught children with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders in St. Louis Public Schools for 35 years. Currently, she helps children with autism reach their learning potential in math and social sciences. With each student having a different learning style, it’s a challenge with rewards.
“A lot of times, it’s the little bittiest things – it just gives me joy,” Carr said. “With autistic kids, you never know what to expect – the little bittiest things that we take for granted – it’s a big thing for them, and it’s just amazing. I love it.”
Carr earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Harris Teachers College and an Associates degree in Liberal Arts from Forest Park Community College in St. Louis.
LaChrisa Crenshaw: supporting students
LaChrisa Crenshaw is the dean of Student Support Services at KIPP Inspire Academy. Previously, Crenshaw was a social worker in the Wellston School District and a treatment coordinator for the Hopewell Center. She also ran a K-12 afterschool program that served students from SLPS and charter schools.
Learning at KIPP is year-round for grades five through eight, and her focus is on the underlying dynamics issues that impact student education.
“Student support services encompasses our high school placement, so once you get your students on level and they are ready to grow and do great, you want to get them placed in high schools that keep challenging them and be on that competitive edge to get into college,” Crenshaw said.
She also co-oversees a Parent University, along with a parent liaison, to build parent involvement in student success. In addition, she handles social services for the school.
Crenshaw earned a Master’s in Social Work from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Missouri St. Louis.
Duane Foster: validation through theatre
Duane Foster moved back to St. Louis in 2006 to take a break from performances on Broadway and was soon appointed theatre/dance instructor at Normandy Middle School. There he turned a storage area into a theatre and transformed the school’s program into a thriving and innovative force for Normandy School District.
For the past four years, Foster has been the fine arts teacher at Normandy High School, where he directs the Normandy Chorale and is the founding director of the Normandy After School Dance Academy.
Through fine arts, Foster said, students get a tangible taste of success.
“I think when you give them a constructive outlet, whether it’s dance or whether it’s theatre or in the choir, it’s more than a selfish thing, that gives them validation and a purpose,” he said. “And I think that’s what I am giving a lot of the students.”
Foster is an alumnus of Morehouse College where he majored in vocal music. The Normandy High School graduate received his dance training and certification from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.
Andrea Hayes: seize the day
For the last five years, Andrea Hayes has brought sheer energy, inspiration and a joy of life to her job of teaching 7th graders language arts at Hazelwood Southeast Middle School.
A professional dancer, cancer survivor, and master of education and communication, Hayes spreads positivity and superior communication techniques like a wild fire.
While she leads with her motto of carpe diem (“seize the day”), Hayes is dedicated to investing in the very community of Hazelwood where she grew up; she graduated from Hazelwood East High School.
This year, Hayes was named teacher of the year of her school and continues to sponsor after school programs including a dance troupe and also a character-building club called Young Ladies of Elegance, which helps middle-school girls envision and plot their life goals.
Jacqueline Storman Turnage: pioneer
Jacqueline Storman Turnage is founder of the Storman Academy, a private, non-for-profit school located off Bellefontaine Road that caters to more than 200 students, ranging from pre-school to the eighth grade.
At the age of 65, Turnage is as passionate about helping students achieve as she was on the day when when she first opened the school in 1981 to become headmistress of the first black-owned, non-sectarian and independent private school in the state of Missouri.
Her mission is to help students learn to learn, to spark their discovery through activities, and ultimately foster an academy that is an alternative for students who might fall through the cracks. Many students have since gone on to some of the area’s most prestigious high schools, thereby adopting the attitudes and actions of excellence to succeed in the world.
Doretta Walker: a community endeavor
Before Doretta A. Walker retired in June 2010, she dedicated 39 years of service to the St. Louis Public School system. Walker served as administrative coordinator for the Supplemental Educational Services of SLPS. She was also coordinator for the school system’s Parent Support Specialist Liaisons.
She still volunteers once a month with SLPS. She loves to work with children and vows never to give up on them.
She advises her students, “There’s no such thing as ‘I can’t learn.’ You drop the ‘t’ and you can.”
She believes spiritual training is as essential as academic learning. She says the church and schools must work together to ensure that all children receive quality education.
“It takes a village to raise a kid,” Walker said. “Education of children must be a community endeavor.”
LaRhonda Wilson: love is the way
LaRhonda L. Wilson began her career in social services at the Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center, where she worked with youth in the foster care system. Later, Wilson became an instructor at the Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center. She taught sociology to adult male inmates, which helped them earn an associate’s degree.
As a sociology professor at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, she shows her passion about social issues.
“I think that if we took the discipline of sociology more seriously, we could resolve so many issues in this world,” she said.
Wilson is inspired by her mother, the late Wilda Wilson, who taught her that “love was the best way to approach people.”
She was named one of North County Inc.’s 30 Leaders in their 30s.
Tickets for the 2012 Salute to Excellence in Education Gala are on sale now. Individual tickets are $85 each/$850 per table and VIP/Corporate tickets are $1,500 per table. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.stlamerican.com and click on Salute to Excellence, or call 314-533-8000.
