Black History Facts

Members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus have sponsored a resolution recognizing February 2023 as Black History Month in the commonwealth, according to state Rep. Donna Bullock, chair of the PLBC.

The Black History Month theme this year is “Black Resistance,” acknowledging that Black Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings.

“From slave revolts to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter, Black Americans have consistently fought for freedom, democracy and the very soul of this country,” said Bullock, D-Phila., who is a prime sponsor of the measure. “That fight meant resisting white supremacy, resisting police and racial violence, and resisting oppressive legislation and policy. During our 50th anniversary, the PLBC will continue our work to advance anti-racist and restorative legislation and equitable state investments that will improve the lives of Black Pennsylvanians.”

Other prime sponsors of the bill are state Reps. Napoleon Nelson, D-Montgomery; Darisha Parker, D-Phila., and Ismail Smith-Wade-El, D-Lancaster.

“The resistance is a part of who we are everyday in this country,” said Parker, who serves as PLBC secretary. “Until we know there is equity, equality and justice in public and private policy, institutions and in the eyes of every American, we will not relinquish the power that we know resistance can bring. Until every single Pennsylvanian has the same opportunity for education, health, wealth and justice, we need to stay vigilant. The PLBC promotes and moves these agenda items in every corner of state government.”

Black History Month started as Negro History Week in the United States, created by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson envisioned the week commemorating the countless individuals from the Black community who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.

This vision later evolved in 1969 when students and educators at Kent State University promoted the idea of Black History Month (instead of a week), followed by its first celebration on campus in 1970. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling on the public to seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected and overlooked accomplishments of Black Americans throughout history.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the PLBC. After meeting in secrecy for several years, the PLBC was formally organized by then House Majority Leader K. Leroy Irvis during the 1973-74 legislative session. The founding members saw the need for the caucus because they felt that legislators representing minority districts needed to speak with a united voice regarding the issues and concerns of their constituents. Today, the PLBC includes more than 30 members, representing urban, suburban and rural districts across the Commonwealth.

Sean Simmons

Director of Athletics, Shady Side Academy

Sean Simmons has served as Shady Side Academy’s director of athletics since July 2021. In this role, he oversees the strategic development and day-to-day operation of a comprehensive athletics program and serves as a member of the Academy’s executive leadership team. SSA Athletics fields 29 highly competitive varsity/prep teams in 16 sports in grades 9-12 plus numerous junior varsity, freshman, middle school and elementary school teams. In Simmons’ first two years at SSA, the Bulldogs have won four WPIAL team titles in boys’ basketball, girls’ field hockey, boys’ lacrosse and girls’ lacrosse.

Prior to SSA, Simmons was director of athletics for the Pine-Richland School District from 2018-2021. The Rams won multiple WPIAL and PIAA championships under his leadership, including the 2020 PIAA 6A football title and WPIAL 3A field hockey title. He also established the PR Athletic Hall of Fame and the PR Academy for Coaches. Prior to Pine-Richland, Simmons served for more than a decade as an associate athletic director at Robert Morris University, contributing to the most successful period for athletics in school history. Prior to RMU, he spent four years as an academic coordinator for student-athletes at the University of Virginia. Early in his career, Simmons worked for six years at The Hun School of Princeton, an independent day and boarding school for grades 6-12 in Princeton, N.J., where he taught math, coached soccer, basketball and track, and served as an advisor, dorm parent and diversity coordinator. 

Born in Trinidad,Simmons holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Seton Hall University, where he was a member of the track and field team and won the Big East indoor and outdoor 400-meter titles, as well as a master’s degree in athletic administration from James Madison University. 

He and his wife, Tawanna, have three children, all of whom are NCAA Division I athletes: Jarrod, who played men’s basketball at Penn and Hofstra and now plays professionally in Europe; Sanaea, a women’s volleyball player at Holy Cross; and Molly, a women’s volleyball player at Michigan. 

PUM ONE ON ONE MR. SIMMONS:

PUM: Tell us more about the projects and activities you have been focused on as director of athletics since being hired at Shady Side Academy.

Mr. Simmons: There are a couple of projects I have been focused on. The first is working to expand partnerships with other institutions that are different from SSA. This has led to the launch of cooperative sponsorships between Shady Side Academy and our friends at The Neighborhood Academy in football and girls’ volleyball. In these co-ops, students from TNA can play on SSA’s football team and students from SSA can play on TNA’s volleyball team, which has enabled students from the two schools to develop bonds as teammates and friends. We're exploring possible co-ops with other schools as well.

I have also been focused on expanding our athletic offerings while developing and maintaining a highly relational coaching model. The goal is to provide as many athletic programs as possible to meet the needs of all of our students, while ensuring a low player-to-coach ratio and an intimate team atmosphere where every student-athlete is known and supported. 

Finally, I have been focused on developing an SSA Coaching Academy dedicated to relational coaching instruction. This involves developing a curriculum for a three-part series that will teach relational coaching philosophies and skills to all SSA coaches. 

PUM: SSA fields 27 highly competitive varsity/prep teams in 16 sports for boys and girls, and boasts a rich championship history, how do you manage this enormous responsibility while keeping the school competitive?

Mr. Simmons: It is truly a collaborative effort that involves the entire Shady Side Academy community. I am fortunate to have a lot of support, starting with SSA President Bart Griffith and our Board of Trustees, and including our executive leadership team, my amazing athletic department staff, our faculty, our facilities department and more. Every member of the Shady Side Academy community has been very supportive of our efforts to field highly competitive teams while maintaining a rich championship history and a tradition of excellence.  

PUM:  Shady Side students benefit from some of the region’s finest on-campus athletic facilities, including a turf stadium with lights, hockey rink, swimming pool, gymnasiums, grass fields, tennis, and squash courts. This campus offers young athletes an awesome opportunity to participate in some of the best facilities.

Mr. Simmons: At Shady Side we are blessed to have outstanding athletic facilities, which enhance the experience of all our student-athletes. We were thrilled to cut the ribbon this fall on our newest facility, the Gene Deal Fields, which I believe gives us the premier outdoor turf field complex in Western Pennsylvania. This beautiful new facility will not only support our soccer, field hockey, baseball, softball and lacrosse teams and SSA summer camps, but it is also available for rental by youth and community programs.

PUM:  You were born in Trinidad and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance at Seton Hall, where you also were a member of the men’s track and field team and won the Big East indoor and outdoor 400-meter titles. How did athletics help you while pursuing your career goals?

Mr. Simmons: For a long time, sports have been viewed as a way to stay healthy and in shape, but their importance goes much further than the obvious physical health benefits. Athletic participation has taught me some very valuable personal and professional life lessons like discipline, responsibility, leadership, self-confidence, accountability, time management, and teamwork. These life lessons have contributed greatly toward the pursuit of my career goals.

PUM: What are some of your goals for 2023 as the director of athletics, any additional big projects on the horizon?

Mr. Simmons: Overall, I would say my goal for 2023 is to continually improve the athletic experience for all students at Shady Side Academy, and all of our decisions regarding funding, facilities, coaching, etc. are centered around that goal. I mentioned a few of my specific goals above, but one additional goal is to arrange an international trip for one or more of our athletic teams where they can experience life in a culture that is totally different from their own.

 Angela E. Mike is the Executive Director of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Division of the Pittsburgh Public School District. Angela oversees 21 CTE programs located in six of the high schools and is responsible for multiple career exploration elective courses at the high school/middle school level.  A district employee for over 27 years, Angela has also served as a CTE Curriculum Development Project Manager, Cosmetology Instructor, Career Development Instructor, and Graduation Project Instructor.  Angela currently serves on the Superintendent’s Academic Cabinet.           

Angela earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and graduated summa cum laude.  She is a certified vocational instructor as well as a certified Cooperative Education Coordinator.  After teaching for several years, she returned to school to earn advanced certifications in education administration.  She completed coursework to earn both her Supervisor and Director of Vocational Education certifications at IUP, and then furthered her education by earning her Principal Certification at The University of Pittsburgh.  

Angela has served on the YouthWorks, Inc. Board, TRWIB Youth Policy Council, TRALC, and the PACTA Executive Board.  She has presented at regional and statewide conferences on dual enrollment, CTE pathways, developing industry partnerships, and assessment success tools.    

Under Angela’s leadership, there is outstanding increase in student work based learning opportunities, industry certifications, increased partnerships and the opening of new CTE programs and electives courses. She has successfully secured grant awards from PDE, Partner4Work, and the AFT/PFT.  She also worked with The Pittsburgh Promise on the pilot initiative to allow CTE students early access to Promise scholarship funds for use in dual enrollment programs.  She has also through CTE been able to help close the achievement gap with CTE students.

Angela is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Iota Lamda Sigma.  

As a graduate of PPS Cosmetology program (at Westinghouse), Angela Mike is evidence of the positive impact of CTE. 

PUM: CTE Provides Essential Skills for Essential Workers.  CTE offers 16 programs that prepare PPS high school students for careers in high demand fields that are crucial to our infrastructure as a society. Tell us more about the programs being offered at PPS and the success your team is having with the students selecting these courses.  

Ms. Mike: The CTE programs available to PPS students are aligned with the state’s high priority occupations (HPOs). HPOs are occupations that are in demand by employers, require higher skill levels, and are most likely to provide family sustaining wages, independence & economic mobility.

Through CTE, our students are able to hit the ground running when they graduate. For example, last year we established a pre-apprenticeship program for our Carpentry students that is aligned with the Eastern Atlantic States (EAS) Regional Council of Carpenters. This is the first program of its kind of high school students in the state. In its first year, five CTE pre-apprentices successfully transitioned into the carpenters’ union apprenticeship program and began work in June. These apprentices were admitted into the union and are earning union wages and benefits.

Seniors in our Health Careers Technology program are currently enrolled in the Allegheny Health (AHN) Network Junior Scholars Program. Through this program, the students receive paid training to become Patient Care Technicians while in high school. Once trained, they are able to become paid interns at either Allegheny General Hospital or West Penn Hospital. Students who successfully complete this program qualify to receive an offer of full-time employment after they graduate. These entry-level positions offer competitive wages and benefits, career laddering opportunities and supports - which include tuition remission.

CTE students are being prepared for post-secondary education as well as workforce opportunities after graduation. CTE is the best of both worlds.

PUM: The Career and Technical Education programs offered in Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) can help prepare high school students for one of these careers (higher skill level/higher pay).  PPS students can enroll in CTE beginning in 10th grade.  Through these programs, students learn 21st century job skills, earn industry certifications and college credits. How are these programs making the difference in the future goals of students?

Ms. Mike: I can answer this by giving you an example of a CTE success story. We recently reached out to our partner network to identify some job exploration field trip sites for our information technology students. We were connected with BNY Mellon. The person responding was a 2006 CTE graduate from the information technology program, who went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in I.T. from Robert Morris, completed her masters in the same field and is now a project manager with BNY Mellon who is excited about helping our current students learn about the possibilities available to them through CTE.

In another example, our Health Careers teachers annually schedule their students to visit Allegheny General Hospital to participate in a surgery observation. Through observing an open-heart procedure, one student was introduced to and inspired to become a perfusionist (the person who operates the heart/lung machine during cardiac surgery). She was accepted into an HBCU majoring in Biology, with the career goal of becoming a perfusionist.

One of our mottos in CTE is that “you need to see it to be it.” CTE provides students the opportunity to see first-hand the kinds of career success available in their chosen field and helps them envision their futures. The supports CTE provides for them (career counseling, certifications, industry contacts, graduation plan development, etc.) allow them to achieve what they envision.

PUM: What is the focus of your goals this year as Executive Director? Any upcoming programs to launch or what do you see as really popular programs?

Ms. Mike: Our focus this year is on providing paid internships and co-operative education opportunities for our students. We are also excited to re-introduce co-operative education (Co-Op) to our District. Our Co-Op Coordinators will begin this year and will work to identify opportunities for our seniors to get paid, part-time work in their fields of study. This is a natural extension of the classroom experience which will allow the students to begin to apply the skills that they’ve acquired through CTE. These jobs will be performed during the school day, with ongoing support and oversight from the Co-Op Coordinators.

PUM: Tell us more about the new ‘Prepare to Prosper’ collaboration the Office of the Mayor and the Career and Technical Education [CTE] division of Pittsburgh Public Schools. What does this partnership mean for students?     

Ms. Mike: The Prepare to Prosper program is a component of Mayor Gainey’s Pathways to Prosperity initiative. The City of Pittsburgh, either directly or through its partner network, will provide entry-level, career ladder jobs to eligible CTE students. In addition, CTE students will receive short-term paid internships during the District’s Winter and Spring Breaks, co-operative education placements, and summer and part-time employment. We are currently working with the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Human Resources and Civil Service to provide paid internships to our seniors during Spring Break this April.

To Learn More about the CTE Programs Click Here

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy announces the appointment of James Brown as Director of Education and the Frick Environmental Center. Recently serving as the Senior Program Director of Creative Youth Development at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA, Brown has nearly two decades of youth development, mentorship and artistic expertise. 

As director of education and the Frick Environmental Center, Brown will lead the Conservancy’s education team and the implementation of environmental education programs for people of all ages as he works to advance inclusion and park equity through engagement with schools, organizations and city departments.

“We’re honored to have James join us at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy,” said Catherine Qureshi, President, and CEO of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. “He brings an impressive and unique skillset to the organization and we’re thrilled to see him flourish in this role as he leads the next generation of park stewards.”

Prior to joining the Parks Conservancy, Brown served the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh for 15 years in various roles as a teaching artist in music production, Program Director and most recently served as the Senior Program Director of Creative Youth Development. Brown also worked for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and served as a teaching artist for the Arts Greenhouse, a teen outreach program of Carnegie Mellon University. He served as a fellow of the inaugural cohort of LEAD Now Pittsburgh, an advanced leadership program for the civic sector. Brown is committed to supporting the mental well-being of the youth he serves and recently completed an intensive course in Trauma Informed Practice of Arts Education Administrators by the Bartol Foundation.

"I believe the parks are one of Pittsburgh's greatest assets, where youth of all ages and backgrounds can come to play, learn, grow and gather,” said Brown. “I'm excited to join a talented team of outdoor educators and work together to create exciting and equitable park experiences at the intersection of nature, sustainability, culture and wellness."

A New York native, Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Vassar College prior to moving to Pittsburgh to pursue ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh. During his time in Pittsburgh, he has been an active musician, bandleader, and music producer with a number of collaborations with local recording artists. He released his own album in 2007.

One on One:  James Brown as Director of Education and the Frick Environmental Center

PUM:  As an African American in this role, tell us more about how this is significant and relates to the Conservancy's mission on equitable park spaces and programming. 

Mr. Brown:  It’s really important to me that black and brown kids and families feel like the parks -- all the parks -- are theirs to enjoy. And for folks to enjoy the parks they must feel safe, and welcome, and they have a voice in how the parks are used, including the types of programs that take place in them. Fulfilling this mission requires effort on multiple fronts and part of what attracted me to this role is the work the Conservancy has done in the past few years; leading capital improvement projects in McKinley Park and Allegheny Commons, and the launch of the Meet Me in the Parks community program which brings facilitated nature experiences to the parks and black neighborhoods.  I’m humbled to be the second African American in this role. That’s significant because one of those fronts is making sure park staff and leadership reflect the communities served. Parks and park leaders should be in conversation with the communities they serve and that requires a commitment to sustained relationships and trust-building.

Access to parks and park programs are a vital part of individual and community health. But different communities have different needs. I’m looking forward to continuing conversations with our community partners and stakeholders about the types of programs and experiences that are relevant and accessible to all Pittsburghers and co-build a vision that is reflective of Pittsburgh’s diverse communities.

PUM: Tell us more about your focus and immediate goals as the new director of education and the FEC. 

Mr. Brown: The education team here at the Conservancy is already doing amazing work with school groups, summer camps and community programs. My initial focus has been to simply learn the details of these partnerships and programs so that I can best support the work they are doing through the 2023 program year. We have some new partnerships budding with organizations in Homewood and I’m looking forward to supporting those efforts and more broadly, strengthening our ties with organizations and families in Homewood and the surrounding communities. The education team has done a great job building partnerships with schools and I think there’s an opportunity to replicate that success through collaborations with after-school providers. I know from experience that for many middle and high school youth, after-school programs are the space where they thrive and feel in control of their own learning. Bringing after-school programs to the park or visiting their sites, reaches another audience of young people who are open to learning new things or who may already have an interest in nature and sustainability.

PUM: You mention that you believe the parks are one of Pittsburgh's greatest assets, where youth of all ages and backgrounds can come to play, learn, grow and gather, tell us more about your vision and utilization of the parks.

Mr. Brown: My vision is really to help residents and communities see the potential of the parks to be a “green slate” for their own wellness, social, educational and cultural goals. The parks are green slates because they can be a classroom, a place to exercise, meditate, observe nature, play games, relax or be active. The Conservancy’s public programs are free or affordable and provide guided examples of the ways people can enjoy the parks. Tabletop gaming, self-care workshops, guided hikes, birdwatching, forest bathing (for those not familiar with the term it’s not what you think!) and community-based Earth Day celebrations are just some of the public programs that we offer. Through our community engagement efforts, I think there is space to imagine and develop new experiences that connect with different interests and attract new audiences to the park. My background is in music and arts education, so my imagination turns to things like drumming, nature photography and sustainable art-making workshops as possible experiences to explore.

 When it comes to our education programs, we offer something for every age group – pre-K through high school. Much like the paths that lead through the park, there’s an educational pathway from early learners to teens. Part of my vision is to strengthen these pathways so that schools and caregivers can provide young people with sustained engagement with nature. Taking care of our green spaces on a local level and taking care of the earth on a global level is a shared responsibility for all of us. And I think the hands-on learning experiences that take place in the park are critical in helping young people develop an appreciation for nature and make sense of the complex environmental challenges we face.

PUM: What are some of the programming for the Frick Environmental Center?

Mr. Brown: We have several school-based programs in partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools, Propel and other private schools. Elementary, middle and high school classes visit Frick Park three times per year for age-appropriate naturalist experiences. Elementary students learn about habitats, middle schoolers observe streams and forests and high school students participate in stewardship projects such as tree plantings and invasive plant removal. We also have seasonal programs that provide opportunities for all age ranges to enjoy nature throughout the year. During the summer we offer weeklong camp programs with different themes for different age ranges. For example, Survival Camp focuses on survival skills for rising 7th and 8th grade campers. In addition the Young Naturalists Program is a 5-week paid summer internship for high school students. Interns serve as park stewards while also learning about natural history, green careers and climate change. In the spring, we’ll be hosting an Earth Month celebration each Saturday in April in four community parks — Westinghouse Park, McKinley Park, Allegheny Commons and August Wilson Park.  In the fall, one of the most popular special events is Bump in the Night, an annual family friendly fall festival featuring evening hikes through the woods, pumpkin picking, campfires and other activities. We keep busy even in the cooler temperatures of winter and have a full winter programming guide detailing programs available across the city’s parks.

PUM: Prior to joining the Parks Conservancy, you served the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh for 15 years in various roles as a teaching artist in music production, Program Director and most recently served as the Senior Program Director of Creative Youth Development. Tell us more about how your background will help enhance your role as the new director. 

Mr. Brown:  My first job out of college was working in the central office for New York City’s Parks and Recreation Department where I helped to coordinate citywide sports leagues and cultural events in parks across the five boroughs. Shortly after I moved to Pittsburgh, I started at the YMCA as a teaching artist working for the Lighthouse Project, an arts and media after-school program for high school teens. I worked directly with students in the classroom using hip-hop as a platform for self-expression, positive identity and critical thinking.  There’s this concept called culturally relevant arts education which has been around for a few decades now but was something we really embraced as we were building out our vision. I think the concept can be applied to outdoor education as well. Outdoor education is not just science-based, in fact there’s a lot of culture embedded in how we think about the environment. For indigenous people, culture and nature are so deeply intertwined. I believe there are ways to engage black and brown youth in outdoor experiences in ways that validate their culture and recognize their knowledge, values and history. The Conservancy’s ‘From Slavery to Freedom’ Garden is a great example of this. The garden showcases the plants, fruits and vegetables that grew in the wooded areas along the passage to freedom that were used for food and medicine. When I became program director, we really got interested in finding ways to turn cultural practices and youth interests into learning — so we built lessons around hip-hop lyricism, beat making, Anime and fashion design and connected the teens’ interests to real word discussions about things like social justice and entrepreneurship. In my new role, the classroom and the context may be different, but there’s a lot to apply here in terms of the process, the mindset and the goals. What does culturally responsive outdoor education look like? That’s something I want to explore.

 As the senior program director of Creative Youth Development part of my job was communicating the impact of our work to various stakeholders including schools, caregivers, community partners and foundations. That part of the job has prepared me for my new role as I set out to grow the support for our education programs. The most exciting parallel for me is the realization that artists and naturalists speak similar languages, or perhaps dialects of the same language, when it comes to education and youth development. The same themes come up in both spaces — community, belonging, mental health, youth voice, justice. I’m excited to be embarking on this new journey and to learn new things, but also to be in a position to continue serving and empowering our city’s youth.

Some people exaggerate when they say they’ve been doing something their whole life; not Jarah Doose.

“I’ve been in the political realm my whole life,” says Jarah, who graduated from Carlow University in 2019 as a political science major. “When I was little, my mom used to take me to council meetings.”

Jarah would tag along to those meetings with her mother, Tina Doose, who was a council member, as well as the president of council, for the Borough of Braddock for many years. Most kids might not view a council meeting as the most interesting way to spend an evening, but Jarah absorbed a lot.

“My mother raised me in politics,” she said. “She was my number one inspiration. She showed me it was possible to achieve.”

Jarah’s using some of those early lessons, as well as what she learned at Carlow, in her current position as government relations advisor in the Pittsburgh office of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, a national law firm providing legal, business, regulatory and government relations advice to regional, national, and international clients.

“In my role, I am a liaison between our clients and government,” she explains. “I work to help them obtain grants or influence legislation at the local, county, and state levels.” She adds that by August 2023, she hopes to be registered to work at the federal level on her clients’ behalf.

Looking back, it may seem a foregone conclusion that Jarah would be a political science major, but she says that wasn’t the case. When she came to Carlow, she considered being a nursing major, and then thought she might want to be a lawyer.

“I took a constitutional law class, and that was the end of wanting to become a lawyer,” she laughs. 

Jarah credits her advisor with helping her sort out a solid career path.

“Sandi DiMola was my biggest advocate,” she recalls. “Every time I became nervous about my future, she would help me sort through my concerns and help me paint a solid path forward.”

Dr. DiMola, who is chair of the Department of Analytical, Physical, and Social Sciences at Carlow, noticed that Jarah had some qualities that would help her excel in public service.

“Beyond being a motivated student, Jarah had a ferocious curiosity, which propelled her to challenge herself,” said Dr. DiMola. “Jarah was unafraid to engage in difficult conversations, in the interest of promoting social justice, and to enter into unfamiliar situations that promoted her professional growth.”

During her junior year, Jarah completed an internship in U.S. Representative Michael Doyle’s office, where she learned how to help constituents navigate the federal government. After graduation, she was hired full-time in Rep. Doyle’s office, first as neighborhood and community engagement coordinator and then as district scheduler/community outreach representative. When Rep. Doyle announced that he was retiring from Congress at the end of 2022, Jarah moved on to her current position as a government relations advisor with Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney in Pittsburgh. 

While working for the congressman, she furthered her education by completing a master’s in public administration with a concentration in public and nonprofit management from the University of Pittsburgh. She says she is focused on the present at the moment and has no plans to run for public office.

“I am embracing where I am right now,” she says. “I’m enjoying working in government relations on behalf of my clients.”

Don’t read that as if she isn’t contemplating her future at all. A woman of deep faith, Jarah is drawn to ministry at her church, and may decide to pursue a larger role in ministry someday.

Whatever her future holds, she is grounded in faith, education, and service. That is something, she is quick to admit, that began at home, but was nurtured at Carlow

“Carlow is an amazing university that has shaped the woman and worker that I am today,” she says. “I cherish my time at Carlow and carry that with me wherever I go.”