The Multicultural Young Educators Network (MYEN) and NC State’s Women’s Center hosted a panel of women of color Wednesday evening for their “Role Models and Representation” program. Four women of color with a presence in the education community in North Carolina discussed their experiences in education and the professional workforce, as well as the impact their race has played in their professional careers.
The event began with an introduction from MYEN’s social publicity chair, Carlia Harrell, and vice president, Andrykah Smith. Smith and Harrell emphasized the importance of accurate representation of people of color in the classroom, the important impact of positive role models in the lives of young African-Americans and the value people of color add to the world of education. They went on to introduce the four panelists and discuss their held positions.
Kim Stansbury, associate professor and director of the Master of Social Work program at NC State, discussed the role the media plays in the everyday lives of young African-Americans and the importance of a positive and accurate representation of people of color in the media.
“The media definitely shapes the narrative of how people think they’re supposed to be,” Stansbury said. “They set the stereotypes, and people judge you with those stereotypes.”
The discussion continued with Alexandra Zagbayou, executive director of Student U, an organization that works with Durham Public Schools to support students in middle school through college. Zagbayou explained the value of African-American women in the professional world.
“It’s not just about representation, I think we also have various lenses from the intersectionality of our experience which actually makes us an asset to an institution,” Zagbayou said. “We make spaces better because of what we bring to the table, and we should narrate that more often.”
Alexandria Pitts, an elementary school teacher and NC State alumna, explained her personal experiences with being a woman of color in the classroom and the relationships she has with her students of color.
“For me to be a medium and a safe place for my students has been the best part of my experience as a person of color in the classroom,” Pitts said.
Assistant Principal Roxann J. Sykes, of Washington GT Magnet Elementary School, discussed her personal ties with the poverty-stricken, African-American educational community and the students impacted by poverty in America. Sykes emphasized her role growing up in an environment typical of the students in her own classroom.
“If we think of it differently, we can approach it differently,” Sykes said. “I was raised by a single mother in a high-poverty area — I shouldn’t be in this seat. Somebody thought of me as promising. Let’s change the way we think about these students and that will change the way we support them.”
Courtney Sparr, a graduate student studying science teaching, explains the impact she hopes to have on her future students given the knowledge she gained from the panel discussion.
“Thinking ahead to becoming a teacher, I can use experiences from panels like this to interact and work with a student,” Sparr said.
