JUDGES

We wanted to highlight the invaluable efforts of the Make Noise Today team who sorted through all the student submissions, and our esteemed judging panel who took the time to review our finalists. Thank you!

Anthony Christian Ocampo, Ph.D Professor of Sociology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Anthony is the author of Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons and The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race, which has been featured on NPR, NBC News, Literary Hub, and in the Los Angeles Times. He is an Academic Director of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity and the co-host of the podcast Professor-ing. His writing has appeared in GQ, Catapult, BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Review of Books, Colorlines, Gravy, Life & Thyme, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. He has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Tin House, and the VONA/Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation. He was recently featured in the Netflix documentary “White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch,” as he was one of the employees involved in suing the company for racial discriminatory hiring practices. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles, he earned his BA in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and MA in modern thought and literature from Stanford University and his MA and PhD in sociology from UCLA.

Jocelyn Tsaih Artist

Jocelyn is a Taiwan-born, Shanghai-raised artist. She received her BFA in Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts. She is a painter, illustrator, and muralist. Though she works in various mediums, the connecting thread throughout her work is her depiction of amorphous figures. Often portrayed in abstracted, liminal spaces, she aims to touch on the emotions as well as the otherworldliness of our human experience. The figures in Tsaih’s work act as extensions of herself. As someone who grew up between multiple cultures and worlds, she’s created her own version of the “in-between”. This is where the figures, and herself, are free to just be. She utilizes color, form, and composition to create images that convey strong moods, possibility for curiosity, and space for introspection.

Dr. Tommy Chang, EdD CEO, New Teacher Center

Tommy brings over 25 years of education experience and leadership to this role, including significant positions in schools, districts, and nonprofit organizations. His journey began with and continues to return to the lifechanging moment he answered the call to become a teacher. Before his most recent position as acting CEO and President of Families In Schools, Tommy spent three years as a consultant and coach to school system leaders and advised organizations such as Great Public Schools Now LA, FourPoint Education Partners, and Whiteboard Advisors. He has served on several nonprofit boards such as Leading Educators and Silicon Schools Fund as well as Education Leaders of Color, an organization dedicated to elevating the leadership, voices, and influence of people of color in education to lead more inclusive efforts to improve education. From 2015-2018, he served as superintendent for Boston Public Schools during which time the district saw increases in student graduation rates and decreases in school dropout rates. He also supported the development and implementation of The Essentials for Instructional Equity, an innovative framework for teaching and learning aimed at closing opportunity and achievement gaps. A native of Taiwan who immigrated with his family to the U.S. at age six, Dr. Chang grew up in Los Angeles and holds an Ed.D. from Loyola Marymount University, M.Ed.’s from the Principals Leadership Institute and the Teachers Education Program at the University of California Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.