May 2014
COMMUNITY CALL
Pictured to the right (in order from left to right): Kurt Williams, Morehouse 2014 Graduate and Crim Center Intern, Dr. Brian Williams, Director of the Crim Center, and Jason Moore, Georgia State University Graduate 2014 and Crim Center Intern
May 2014: The Crim Center Community Call By Dr. Brian Williams, Director, Crim Center
Welcome to the May 2014 Community Call Newsletter. In this month’s newsletter we’ve got a lot of great stories for you.
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This month the Community Call will feature our digital literacy program Beyond the Bricks, a new book written by facebook.com/crimcenter
a Crim Center staff member, and list of published works by our affiliated faculty. We will also highlight the various pathways to teaching that are provided through Crim Center programs, and of course our Spring 2014 graduates.
If you like what you read, be sure to check out our website, and try out our new feature Community of Believers in the News. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and let us know your thoughts about this month’s Community Call.
@AlonzoACrimCUEE
@AlonzoACrimCUEE
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For full articles and to learn more about the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, please go to our website: crim.education.gsu.edu
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Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
Crim Center Creates Pathways to Teaching By Dana E. Salter, M. Ed., Crim Center Staff For more than 15 years, the Crim Center has served as an entry point and pathway into the profession of teaching. Programs like Jumpstart and TEAM Americorps provide college students with opportunities to learn about education in a manner that cultivates their developing interest and provides invaluable support to local schools and communities. For this issue of the Community Call, we sat down with four 2014 COE graduates who got their start as teachers in the Crim Center: Ezinee Igbonagwan, Nicole Houston, Rebecca Ammazi, and Vance Allen
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At some point in your life you made a decision to be a teacher. What brought you to that decision?
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Ezinne: My 11th grade US history teacher brought learning to life for me. All that he did in his teaching were traits that I find in master teachers in urban schools. He tied in everything that was taught in the books back to our culture. He also emphasized what was left out of USA texts about African-American history, and showed us how we contributed in many ways to the history of this country. He also incorporated a class motto (another thing a master teacher does) that we had to memorize, quote, and live. It was about excuses: not letting them into your life, the influence of [excuses], and trying to go above and beyond in everything you did in school. This teacher’s Facebook is full of different organizations that he is a part of and that are dedicated to urban education. He truly inspired me to be a teacher in an urban setting.
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Vance: I was blessed to be selected to join the Technology Environment and Mathematics (TEAM) AmeriCorps program at Georgia State University. While I was working at Woodson Elementary as a health Rebecca Ammazi with her students instructor, I found joy in keeping kindergarten students engaged while also incorporating multiple Georgia performance standards in the same lesson. My students enjoyed coming to health class. I never felt like I was at work. I realized teaching was for me after this experience. I also am a product of urban middle and elementary schools. I believe I can show educators more positive classroom management styles, show students how to care for each other and serve as an exemplary teacher at whatever school I work for.
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Nicole: I was originally majoring in nursing. I thought that that was want I wanted to be- a nurse. But that experience in the healthcare field showed me that that’s not how I wanted to help people. It wasn’t my passion. I could do it, but it wasn’t my passion. There had to be something else. So I started searching for my passion. I went to a GSU Organizational Fair at the beginning of the school year and Jumpstart was there. I talked to Eshé Collins [Director of the Jumpstart program that operates out of the Crim Center] and got more information about the program. She and I clicked instantly. Eshé was great in encouraging Jumpstart interns to think through and learn about the home life of our students. She’d say, “Show them something different and that you care.” I never forgot that. continued on next page
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Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
Rebecca: And I was a political science major at first. But it felt really boring to me. I wasn’t passionate about it. I started thinking about my experience in high school where I was in a co-op: you could intern somewhere while in school or take a job. I went back to my old elementary school and helped the kids learn to read. I loved it. I then started working with the 4th-8th graders and loved that as well. I had finally found something that excited me.
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How did your work with the Crim Center contribute to your understanding of urban education and/or your decision to teach?
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Vance: When I was a student assistant for the Alonzo A. Crim Center, Brian Murray asked me to research review articles on urban education. The more I learned about the state of urban schools and the prison to pipeline concept, the more I was motivated to change things. Working for TEAM AmeriCorps gave me opportunities to serve urban students. I worked with students at Kipp Ways Academy, Woodson Primary and the Police Athletic League. My most valuable experience with Team AmeriCorps was working with Project Grad. I served as a college access coach at Frederick Douglass High School. I worked tirelessly to help 50 high school students apply for their FAFSA, apply to college and gain acceptance to college. Four of my students are currently enrolled at Georgia State University as sophomores.
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Nicole: The Crim Center is a home-base when you are at GSU. It’s a safe haven that creates opportunities for you to explore education. You can always be reminded about what you’re doing and why you’re Vance Allen with his students doing it at the Crim Center. For example, I started at the Crim Center in the Jump Start program, then I got into the Net-Q Program (Spring 2013) and last summer I was a GRA for the Early College Program. Being a part of all of these programs helped me think about and practice my teaching philosophy and learn ways to support my students.
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Ezinne: I joined the TEAM program here at the Crim Center. The part that really connected with me was the TEAM professional development trainings that were held on Fridays. Our sessions with Chike Akua (GSU Doctoral student and UETT member) were very powerful. A lot that he taught and what I learned about culturally responsive teaching are what I want to do in my classroom. During the TEAM program, I really learned how to teach and support African-American students in a culturally responsive way—even if in a place where a lot activities are not designed with African-American students in mind.
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Rebecca: And for me, I started working as a Student Intern at the Crim Center after my freshman year. During that year I was on a community service trip to New Orleans with Softer Touch (GSU student organization) and while there, I met Bryan Murray-former Community Outreach Specialist at the Crim Center. Through his mentorship, I learned so much about my culture, education, community work and working in urban settings. I learned not just the theory but the practice from Bryan. He invited me to come work at the Crim Center and from there, I majored in education and then I eventually joined the TEEMS program at GSU.
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Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
What are your goals as an educator?
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Rebecca: The Crim Center helped me find my passion in education—I know I said that before, but I really mean it. And because of the Center, the programs I participated in, the conversations I had, I now see that I don’t want to be a K-12 classroom teacher- just yet. Being at the Center and in a higher education context has helped me see that I want to be in higher education—either in a position like Bryan Murray had or like Dr. Tene Davis (Director of the Early College Program at GSU). I want to mentor and support students in higher education and I know that being at the Crim Center helped me see that.
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Ezinne: I am a math teacher for grades 6-12 and I’m also happy to say I have an offer at a high school for next year. However, my passion is for middle school students and teaching. My goal is to really show African -American students that you are capable of learning this content and material. Often students are so intimidated before they even enter into the classroom—I want to be a teacher like the high school history teacher I had, and help the students break down the barriers. I want to show them that they are capable of so much and of doing great things. I want to also add that I want my teaching and interactions with students to help build their character—I want them to focus less on being the arbitrary “best”. Instead, I want to support them in asking: am I productive in society and helping my community? I want to teach them and make sure that they take this back to their communities.
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Vance: My goal is to inspire students to see beyond their situation. I want them to view themselves as readers, authors, mathematicians, scientists and historians. I will show students how much fun reading is, why collaboration is better than our culture of fighting, and how to find joy in being a scholar. Eventually, I plan to open a STEM school of my own in Panama City, Panama.
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Nicole: I am now a special education high school teacher in Cobb County. I really try to be the best teacher I can be by effectively teaching students in urban communities. I want to add that I want to be efficient enough to bring all I have learned here at the Crim Center into the school that I’m at now- even with all different teaching philosophies and practices around me. And I will always come home to the Crim Center to keep learning more.
Nicole Houston with some of her students
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Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
Moving Beyond the Bricks By Anique Hameed, Crim Center Graduate Research Assistant What does it take to move beyond limitations developed by society and reinforced by the challenges of a community? How does one move beyond the bounds of your physical space and the things you can only assess aesthetically? What, exactly, does it take to go beyond the bricks? The students of the Alonzo A. Crim Center’s Beyond the Bricks program have the answers. The Beyond the Bricks Project (BTBP) digital literacy program provides a safe and open learning space where male high school students use digital media tools to tell stories about the world around them. Students are fully engaged in the processes of community mapping and digital filmmaking which includes conducting community needs assessments, traveling to historic places, filming their experiences and personal journeys all while using top level software to produce documentaries. The BTBP curriculum helps to arm students with a critical lens for looking at media and their position in society as Black men. Participants are trained to use their newly developed digital media skills to apply critique to their own story though counter-narrative production. This experience ensures that participants’ voices can be heard and appreciated. A satellite of the national program, the Crim Center’s Beyond the Bricks Project provides a unique cultural and educational experience for everyone involved. “It’s an empowering mechanism that they can carry throughout life,” says Garfield Bright who has served as the Instructor for BTBP at Georgia State since 2012. “Hopefully [this experience] translates into a sensibility that is service oriented and they become vigilantly proactive relative to serving their community.” Garfield, who is also a doctoral student in the College of Education at Georgia State, plans
Pictured below is Crim Center Intern and GSU film major, Jason Moore, far right, having a conversation with Beyond the Bricks participants, Clarence Wise, far left, and Aquaous Grubs, center.
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to write his dissertation using applied concepts and experiences gained through coordinating BTBP. He has chosen to specifically focus on the notion of identity, selfidentification of young Black men, and why the young men in BTBP choose certain images to define themselves. While Garfield Bright, or Mr. B as students affectionately call him, learns through the BTBP, the high school participants gain even more. Clarence Wise and Aquaous Grubbs, both seniors at Carver High School and BTBP participants, felt that what they appreciated most about participating in the BTBP was the opportunity to learn outside of the textbook. “My favorite part was the Selma trip, and that’s what our project mostly focused on. During the trip we stopped by Elder House and talked to Dr. Adelaide Sanford[leader in urban education],” said Clarence. Aquaous added, “My favorite part was experiencing what we read in textbooks first hand.” As one can imagine many special moments are shared as a brotherhood is built through the Beyond the Bricks Project. Garfield explained “There are very special moments, like the joy that they all showed when they first got their cameras. And in conversations we would have… they would weight in and blow my mind. They all have a unique perspectives with a critical eye and a unique acceptance of themselves as young Black men. We bonded, they’re my little brothers, mentees, and sons all in one. The greatest part was seeing that trust happen.” For more information on the Beyond the Bricks program please contact Garfield Bright, Program Coordinator, at gbright1@student.gsu.edu.
The 2014 Beyond the Bricks Graduation will be held this Friday, May 30 from 5:00pm-6:30pm in the College of Education Forum. Join us as we share all student projects from this year including the Selma Trip documentary.
Pictured to the right are two of the BTB participants.
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Clarence, on the left, is a senior at Carver High School, will be attending Savannah State in the fall to study Environmental Science.
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Aquaous, on the right, also a senior at Carver High School, will be attending Georgia State or Savannah State in the fall to study Business.
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Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
COMMUNITY-BASED MULTILITERACIES & DIGITAL MEDIA PROJECTS Questioning Assumptions and Exploring Realities
New Book: Community-based
Multiliteracies and Digital Media Projects
Dr. Heather M. Pleasants, Director for Community Education at the University of Alabama and Dana E. Salter, M. Ed, Community Service Specialist at the Crim Center, published a new edited book titled Community-based Multiliteracies and Digital Media Projects: Questioning Assumptions and Exploring Realities. This unique collection, with contributors from around the world, argues that within community-based digital literacies work, a fundamental question remains unanswered: Where are the stories and reflections of the researchers, scholars, and community workers themselves? We have learned much about contexts, discourses, and the multimodal nature of meaning making in literacy and digital media experiences. However, we have learned very little about those who initiate, facilitate, and direct these community-based multiliteracies and digital media projects. In discussing their book, Pleasants and Salter explained the contributions they hope their book makes to emerging research and conversations in the fields of engaged scholarship and community-based multiliteracies and digital media projects. Pleasants noted that “…as we work on the developing engaged scholarship projects within and across our respective disciplines, it’s HEATHER M. PLEASANTS and important to think about our own process as an integral part of developing DANA E. SALTER, EDS. knowledge about engaged scholarship itself. So embedding from the very beginning a methodological eye toward representing and reflecting on process, such that those reflections can find a place within the scholarly discourse as legitimate results of rigorous inquiry in and of themselves.” Salter added that “…this book includes chapters by community-based organizations who had never written about their work before. So as both fields [engaged scholarship and community-based multiliteracies and digital media projects ] research and examine engaged scholarship, especially across community-university collaborations, it’s vital that all participant’s reflections of process inform emerging working definitions of engaged scholarship. This can be challenging to put into practice, but as we saw with compiling this book, it is vital to this work.” For more information about the this book, please contact Dana E. Salter, Crim Center Community Service Specialist, at dsalter@gsu.edu. CRIM CENTER AFFILIATED FACULTY PUBLICATIONS:
Birman, D., Simon, C. D., Chan, W. Y., & Tran, N. (2014). Acculturation and psychological adjustment of employed refugees from the former Soviet Union in the U.S.: A life domains perspective. American Journal of Community Psychology, 53, 60-72.
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Curlette, W., Hendrick, R., Ogletree, S. & Benson, G. (2014). In Press. Achievement from anchor action research studies in highneeds, urban, professional development schools: a meta-analysis in Ferrara, J., Nath, J. & Guardarrama, I. (Eds.). Creating visions for university/school partnerships: A volume in professional development school research. Information Age Publishing.
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King, J. & Swart, E. (2014) "Re-membering" History in Student and Teacher Learning: An Afrocentric Culturally Informed Praxis. NY: Routledge.
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Latzman, R. D., Chan, W. Y., & Shishido, Y. (2013). Impulsivity moderates the association between racial discrimination and alcohol problems. Addictive Behavior, 38, 2898-2904.
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Lemons-Smith, S. (2014). Using "re-membered" student text as a pedagogical frame for urban pre-service mathematics teachers. In J. King & E. Swartz (Eds.), Re-membering" History in Student and Teacher Learning: An Afrocentric Culturally Informed Praxis (pp. 121-137). New York: Routledge.
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Muhammad, G. E. (in press). A historical model for literacy and agency: Lessons from African American male literary societies of the nineteenth century. In L. Reynolds (Ed.), Imagine It Better. Portsmouth: Heinemann
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Muhammad, G. E. (2014). Black girls write! Literary benefits of a summer writing collaborative grounded in history. Childhood Education, 90, 323-326.
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Ogletree, A., Ogletree, S. & Allen, B. (2014). In Press. Transition to online assessments: meeting common core state standards in an elementary school in Georgia: A personal perspective. Georgia Educational Researcher.
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Ogletree, S., Benson, G., Williams, G., Fields, K. & DawkinsJackson, P. (2013).Development of Professional Learning Communities to Strengthen Professional Collaboration for Student Learning, PDS Partners, 9 (1).
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Umoja, A. O., "From One Generation to the Next: Armed Self defense, Revolutionary Nationalism, and the southern Black freedom struggle," Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society. 15, 3-4, Fall 2013, 218-240.
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Umoja, A. O., "’Time for Black Men….': The Deacons for Defense and the Mississippi Movement." In Ted Ownby (editor), The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. (Oxford, MS: University of Mississippi, 2013), 204-229.
Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014 7
Address to Graduates By Dr. Brian Williams, Director of Crim Center
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Each year, I get invitations from local schools to speak at their graduation ceremonies. I consider it a great honor to share some of my life lessons with the graduates. This year, I have decided to honor the Crim Center’s 2014 graduates with a written graduation address. These students have served their communities as AmeriCorps members, participated in the Early College program, or worked as interns or graduate students in the Crim Center. Of course, I also hope that these words will have some meaning for the thousands of other students who graduated this year, whether it be from Kindergarten or graduate school. Believe it or not, I do not wake up each morning as Dr. Brian Williams, Director and Associate Professor. As much as I love my work, my university positions represent only a part of who I am. I am also a father, a son, a brother, and a husband. I am a mentor, a teacher, a coach, and scholar. I am a scientist and artist. I am a wonderer, a wanderer, a tinkerer, and a thinker. Take a second to think about the phrase “I am.” There are a total of three letters between those two words. I challenge you to make a simpler sentence. And yet, these two words when uttered by an individual represent a powerful declaration of self-awareness and determination. The educational icon, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays deepened our understanding of the phrase when he said, “Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.” Imagine that! Inside of you exist something so fantastic that if you decide to nurture it, it would leave an indelible mark on others, your community, and our world. The phrase I AM is important. However, it is only one half of the story. Our world needs each of your unique gifts. Individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrate the profound impact of those who live their unique greatness in service to the world. However, Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy was inspired by what Mahatma Ghandi called Ubuntu, I am because we are. Ubuntu tells us that we are connected. To say a person is ‘ubuntu’ is an acknowledgement of a life lived in service to the larger world. I'd argue that Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Aung San Suu Kyi all built revolutionary movements around the philosophy of Ubuntu. As you begin to define your individual I AM, you must also remember that WE ARE. However, everything begins with those two words, I AM. Who are you? That is the question that I challenge you to answer. It is a important question. Today, I hope that you will begin to think about this question. Perhaps, you will begin to find answers. Once you answer it, you need you to write it down and read it often. Chances are you will have a list of items that define who you are. Today, you can simply write, I am a graduate. Congratulations on this achievement. I cannot wait to see what you contribute to who we are!
Dr. Brian Williams and his advisor Dr. Jaqueline Irvine after his graduation from Emory in 2003
“…Imagine that! Inside of you exist something so fantastic that if you decide to nurture it, it would leave an indelible mark on others, your community, and our world.”
Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
COMMUNITYCALL May 2014
Congratulations Crim Center Graduates!
Congratulations to the Class of 2014 from your Crim Center Family! This year’s graduating class includes students from Beyond the Bricks Project, Early College, Jumpstart, TEAM, and Crim Center Interns.
Booker T. Washington High
The New Schools at Carver
Alexandria Jones Asia Hollinger Breanna Curtis Charkira Patrick Danika Willis Deja Hutcherson Deshawn Fleming Gabrielle Ragesdale Jessica Turner Joirdin Cooperc Lekeitha Allen
Georgia State University A’sheana White Andrea Pollard Anthony Abner Ezinne Igbonagwam Jason Moore Nicole Houston
Nishona Curry Rebecca Ammazi Sarah McDonald Vance Allen
Morehouse College Kurston Williams
STAY INFORMED
facebook.com/ crimcenter
@AlonzoACrimCUEE
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Aaron Williams III Latoya Murray Alex Jordan London Pritchett Alexis Sheats Markie Harris Andrew Hamilton Marquisha Sanders Aquaous Grubbs Martavious Spead Aryn Taylor Michael Smith Ayeesha Sayyad Morris Johnson Breana Peters Mylecia Sims Briana Lewis-Marshall Nika O’Neal Briandra Shoemake Quentis Bentley Chamondrea Lane Shakayla Barrow Chaz Woodall Shannon Lindsey Cherese Berment Shantrice Taylor Christopher Thomas Shariff Lee-Brown Clarence Wise Siera Poole Demario Gay Star’keria Bohannon Eboni Foster Terriyonna Smith Emiani Harris Tevish Clark Grant Green Timothy Hillary Jazzmine Leake Tiwan Walton Jordan Jones Tristan Renfroe Kaitlynn Webb Tyrell Brown Kayla Brown Vershawne Pennymon Keith Crawford Yasmine Edge Kimaria Laing Zaria Key
ABOUT THE CRIM CENTER Founded in 1996, the Alonzo A. Crim Center is an interdisciplinary hub that works to ensure that no person is alienated from or by education within urban communities. We are a place in which the Community of Believers are able to come in order to support one another's educational needs and endeavors. Each year, the Center delivers programming and support services to over +10,000 adults and children at a cost of about $100.00 per person/child per year. Through partnerships, donations and support we are proud to offer programs that benefit our school communities. Volunteerism allows us to offer over 38,000 volunteer hours to the community each year. Of course, we would love for you to volunteer in any of our research and service efforts. Join us today and become a part of the "Community of Believers."
@AlonzoACrimCUEE
Interested in supporting our work? Contact Community Outreach Specialist, Dana E. Salter at dsalter@gsu.edu or 404. 413. 8072.
http://bit.ly/Give2Crim
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UPCOMING EVENTS DREAM Summer Insti tute at GSU! FREE prog ram for m etroAtlanta rising 10th-12 th graders! June 9- July 25, 2014 Topics include: - Strengthening math fundamentals - Cultural awareness - Robotics and engineer ing - Creating Thinking and Writin - Forming a Cultural & So cial Identity For more info contac t: rturner11@gsu.edu
Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call
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