Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

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A Question of Freedom – Wm G Thomas III

A Question of Freedom (Oct 2021) This book landed on my radar because it’s written by historian William G. Thomas III, brother of my husband’s law partner Sandy Thomas, who is the global managing partner for Reed Smith LLP.

It’s a tremendous work of scholarship. It is also a story well told with plenty of plot twists. The meticulous recounting of court cases, depositions, legal records, and oral histories is skillfully woven into the riveting stories of people, families, and history that have not previously been explored in such depth.

Willam Thomas discovers in researching the subject of Georgetown University’s sale of their slaves to fund their college back in the 1830s that his family also owned slaves in the same area of Prince George’s County, Maryland. His journey of discovery unfolds as he meets descendants of the families he writes about who sued for their freedom in the late 18th century to the mid-1800s.

It was emotional for me to read about the very real trauma, injustice, and cruelty suffered by families who were enslaved. That injustice was perpetrated by white families like the author’s and my own who accepted the institution of slavery as both a legal right, an economic necessity, and part of the natural order of life.

The book delves into the plantation system, the economy of tobacco and cotton, the vast holdings of Jesuit priests, banking instruments that allowed the mortgaging of human beings as property, the recessions and market collapses that fueled the expansion of slavery in the south. These concepts are brought to life through the stories of individuals with names, extended family histories, and accurate details captured by legal cases and property inventories that included enslaved people as assets.

The legal wins in the early freedom suits set up some branches of a particular family for generations of success as they flourished in Maryland and northern states. The failures of the legal system to see enslaved people as people with fundamental rights relegated others in those same families to a life in the deep south with generations of poverty and struggle. The Jesuit priests who bartered the souls of 292 people have much to answer for.

William Thomas has written an important book that is so fundamental to understanding the trajectory of our country’s history around slavery and the intractable racism that impacts all of us in our daily lives. He has also uplifted the stories of courageous people that history rendered invisible up to this point. The Queens, Mahoneys, Bells, Duckets and so many others deserve their place in our country’s founding story.

This is one of those books that I wish was on everyone’s reading list. It’s part of a journey of understanding, acknowledgment and healing. And our country desperately needs to be healed.

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Laura Jane Cohen on Your Need to Know

(September 11, 2019) Catherine Read interviews Laura Jane Cohen, candidate for the Fairfax County School Board in the Springfield district. Cohen is a former FCPS teacher, parent of two FCPS students, and former PTA president.

This November Virginians will head to the voting booth to elect almost all of our local officials across the commonwealth, including all 140 seats in the General Assembly, the Board of Supervisors, Sheriff, Commonwealth’s Attorneys, Soil and Water Conservation Board and School Board. Cohen has decided to challenge an eight-year incumbent because she believes that her opponent is out of step and not engaged with the community that they represent.

As a former FCPS preschool teacher and long-term substitute, Cohen has the deep understanding of what teachers need to succeed in the classroom. As a parent of both middle and high school students, she can also relate to the needs of parents as well. By being able to see things through multiple lenses, she aims to deliver results for all of her constituents.

Cohen first got involved in advocacy work after the horrific Sandy Hook school shooting. Her local school, Cherry Run Elementary, was designed as an open-concept school.  None of the classrooms had doors. After what she witnessed she could not fathom sending her children to school in classrooms that could not be secured.

She spoke with the Principal to see about getting doors installed to help protect students. His initial response was that he was not able to do this because the school was on the list for Capital Improvements, so they would just have to wait their turn.

In Cohen’s eyes, this was not an acceptable answer. She then brought together various parent groups to help advocate for updating the school. At the end of the day they were able to accomplish their goal. This helped fuel Cohen’s desire to improve the schools for all students.

Cohen truly wants the school system to work for all students.  After her daughter was diagnosed with a learning disability, she worked hard to navigate the system to ensure that her daughter had access to the resources that she needed to thrive in the classroom.

What she learned through this process was that, although the resources are there, it takes a lot of effort on the part of parents to ensure that the school delivers the needed services.  One of her goals is to make that process easier to navigate and implement for all students in need, not only for the ones who have parents who are able to make it happen. She also wants to make it easier for teachers to be advocates for their students.

Lastly, Cohen draws a distinct comparison between herself and her opponent, Elizabeth Schultz.  After the Parkland massacre, Schultz called for arming teachers, instead of trying to figure out how to prevent future tragedies.  Additionally,  she did not want to include LGBTQ staff and students when updating the FCPS non-discrimination policies.  Cohen wants the school system to be open, fair and welcoming to all students.  To learn more about Cohen’s campaign you can visit her website. 

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Elaine Tholen on Your Need To Know

(September 4, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Elaine Tholen, Director of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District and candidate for FCPS School Board. Soil and water conservations districts were established after the dust bowl by the US Department of Agriculture to create local teams of people working on the ground with private landowners to ensure best practices for farming and agriculture.

The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and its Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3), provides and promotes leadership in the conservation of natural resources through stewardship and education programs. It coordinates conservation efforts statewide to focus effectively on issues identified by local member districts. Their mission is to serve and strengthen soil and water conservation districts in the stewardship of natural resources. There are 47 soil and water districts in Virginia.

The board consists of five members; two of who are appointed and three are elected. They work together, in conjunction with the chairperson, to carry out local efforts to promote good environmental practices, as it applies to land and water. They help private landowners with everything from establishing safe water runoff, preventing flooding, creating rainwater gardens and helping with storm water management.

An important part of their work is to educate the public on environmental issues. The Youth Conservation Leadership Institute attracts young people who are interested in learning more about the environment. Students who are accepted into this program run their own project to explore an issue that is meaningful to them. They then present their findings at the annual conference that is held at George Mason University.

Catherine speaks with Sitara Sastry, a youth leader who conducted a project testing drinking water at Oakton High School. At the time that she did her project the school was under construction, and there was a lot of “chatter” about weather or not the water was safe to drink.

Sitara learned quite a bit about the water at the high school, where it came from and the different uses (drinking water vs. HVAC cooling water for the air conditioning). She really enjoyed having an opportunity to get hands-on experience, and is now interested in pursuing environmental science, or environmental engineering, in college.

Elaine has really enjoyed the many years she has spent at the head of the Soil and Water District, but has decided this year to run for the Dranesville District School Board position. With a background in teaching in FCPS when she was younger, and parent of two boys who graduated through the public schools, she looks at this as an opportunity to continue to serve her community. You can learn more about Elaine on her website. Elections for School Board, Supervisors, all 140 seats in the General Assembly, Commonwealth’s Attorney, Sheriff and the Soil and Water Conservation Board will be held on November 5th.

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Kimberly Boateng FCPS Student Representative 2019-2020

(July 17, 2019) Catherine Read interviews Kimberly Boateng, the new student representative to the FCPS School Board for the 2019-2020 school year. Kimberly is an incoming junior at Robert E. Lee High School, and was elected this past spring by the Student Advisory Council (SAC).  She serve a one-year term starting in July, and will participate in School Board meetings as a non-voting member.  Kimberly is the 49th student representative to serve in this capacity.

Over the course of her academic career, Kimberly has attended seven different schools, six of them being within the FCPS system.  Through this unique lens, Kimberly has gained a good snapshot of the county and has a lot of ideas based on her experiences. She understands the diversity, both from a racial and socioeconomic standpoint, and is able to use that understanding to help advance the issues that are most important to her.

Among the pressing issues at hand, Boateng believes that mental health, implicit bias awareness, the dress code, assistance for at-risk students, drug use, and punishment reform are most important.

Some of these issues dovetail with one another. Punishment reform merges in with the issue of implicit bias and at-risk students. She points out that the policy of suspending or expelling students is not working. If the goal is to reform the students and help them, then keeping them in school and making them aware of their mistakes, as well as teaching them how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future is the most important thing.

“The worst thing that a school can do” she says, “is give up on a child”.

Since she has been in so many different schools, Boateng has had the opportunity to see things that have worked well, and things that have not worked out the way that they were intended. She would like to highlight the creative, out of the box ideas that she has seen to be successful.

Boateng takes her role seriously, and hopes that the FCPS student body will reach out to her with their thoughts, ideas and observations. The school system is very large, and she believes the only way to be an effective representative is to be open and responsive to the student body that she represents. Her email is effective on July 1st, and she hopes to start hearing from them with ideas and feedback for the new school year.

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Fairfax Futures with Sallyann Bergh

(June 19, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Sallyann Bergh, Executive Director of Fairfax Futures. Since 2004, Fairfax Futures has been raising awareness about the critical role that school early childhood education plays in promoting academic and lifelong success.

In partnership with the business community and Fairfax County, Fairfax Futures is uniquely positioned to foster cross-sector collaboration in support of early childhood education and school readiness in the county. Through their annual Business Leaders Reception and Leadership Forums, they aim to raise the awareness in the community about the importance of investing in our youngest citizens. Approximately 85% of brain development occurs by age five. It is increasingly clear that the achievement gap starts early on in life, so quality educational experiences prior to kindergarten can greatly enhance a student’s potential and provide a solid foundation for learning.

In addition to working with the business community, Fairfax Futures focuses heavily on supporting early childhood educators. They provide both learning opportunities and ongoing resources for educators. Every year they sponsor a School Readiness Symposium, a unique daylong educational forum for early childhood educators across Fairfax County. Topics presented include literacy, science and math, the arts, play and nature. This was the 15th year of sponsoring a program and the 2019 School Readiness Symposium theme was Healthy Children, Healthy Futures. The program is possible thanks to a generous grant from the PNC Foundation.

While Fairfax is regularly recognized as an affluent community, there are pockets of poverty and income inequality. There are 74,000 children under the age of five in Fairfax, and one in five of those children are living in poverty. With the cost of quality early childhood education hitting record high numbers, it makes it very difficult for many of these students to access quality early childhood education.

Fairfax Futures works closely with the county’s Office for Children that helps to identify families who are eligible for subsidies and county run programs.. In 2017, Fairfax County adopted the Equitable School Readiness Strategic Plan.  Fairfax Futures partners with government, the private sector and the nonprofit community to support goals and objectives of this plan. The goal is that all children, regardless of economic, cultural or ethnic background  are prepared for school. Through the Neighborhood School Readiness Project, they forge relationships between local schools, community resources, early childhood educators and families, to ensure that children are well prepared for their transition to kindergarten.

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Rosie Riveters with Brittany Greer

(June 12, 2019)   Catherine Read speaks with Brittany Greer, founder of Rosie Riveters, a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) education program for girls age 4-14. The no-cost extracurricular program is designed to inspire girls to imagine, create and play while developing their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Greer’s goal is to equip and empower girls to be strong, confident and competent in the fields of STEM through hands-on projects and mentorship programs. Ultimately, she wants to teach girls to delete the words “I can’t” from their vocabulary, and inspire them to always be confident enough to try. The genesis of the name “Rosie Riveters” stems from the World War II posters that encouraged women to enter into the workforce because the men were off fighting the war.  These women did not have practical job skills, but had a can-do attitude.  Greer found inspiration in this story, and chose to adopt this name for her program.

Greer founded Rosie Riveters in 2015, after working for many years in the energy industry and noticing that the number of women in STEM fields was not growing. She stepped back from her professional duties in order to establish a program that attracts and inspires young girls to learn in a safe space. Too many times, girls are discouraged from pursuing these fields and do not gain the skill sets and confidence that they need to succeed.

Rosie Riveters Brittany GreerHer first challenge was to figure out where she would hold the programs. As libraries are in a stage of trying to reinvent themselves as maker-spaces, Greer forged a partnership with the Arlington County Library and secured space at no cost.  She got the word out to students in Arlington County Public Schools through the backpack flyer system that allows non-profits to advertise services. By February of 2016, their pilot program was up and running. To date, the nonprofit has served 587 girls, with another 287 sitting on waiting lists.

Their goal is to build interest in STEM topics early on in a girl’s life, and to keep that student engaged and coming back year after year. Children develop friends and cohorts, and have an opportunity to interact with other female students who share their interests. The programs operate in three different models, a 12-session program (one per month), an after school program that spans 6-8 weeks, or a community center program that includes a 5 week summer intensive and once a month during the school year.

Greer recognizes that not every community is the same, and it is important to be able to meet students and families where they are in order to attract and retain them.

So what is it that they do and why do students want to keep coming back? The program is predicated on the concept of trying and failing. At first, this can be very difficult for students to understand, but in the end it builds strength and resiliency.

Each class includes a“project build”.  The students first observe a fully operational piece of equipment on a table, along with a pile of materials that would be needed to construct the item. Without any instruction, the students are asked to observe what they see and start working to put pieces together. The teachers act as coaches, giving students ideas and tips about how they can use what they observe to make decisions about how to proceed. This encourages both critical and creative thinking skills, and gives the students space to fail, as everyone is in the same boat together. Afterwards, there would be explanation about what they built and how it works.

Each program lasts two hours, as there needs to be sufficient time for kids to work through their projects. The goal is to encourage girls to explore, experiment and have the confidence to try something new and complex. Everyone affiliated with the program, from teachers to material preparation to mentors, are volunteers. If you have an interest in helping with any aspect of the program, please visit the website to sign up.

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GMU College of Science with Dean Peggy Agouris

(May 22, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Peggy Agouris, Dean of the George Mason University College of Science at the time of this interview. [Effective July 1, 2019, Peggy Agouris became Provost of the College of William & Mary.] They discuss the history of the college and how that history has positioned the college to be on the cutting edge of its specialities.

The GMU College of Science was founded in 2006, after breaking off from the College of Arts and Sciences, and merging with the School of Computational Data Science. It now serves as one of the largest research colleges in the state, with approximately 4,000 students with declared majors in the school. The College of Science also serves to support students from other disciplines, as science intersects with many of the majors from the University’s varied offerings.

George Mason University started as a branch campus of the University of Virginia in 1947, and broke off to become its own entity in 1972. Being a brand new state university, the college needed to differentiate itself in order to attract students. Early on, it adopted innovative curriculum based on what companies were looking for. This led the university to be in on the ground floor of the data science industry.

As information technology programs took off across the nation and employers were looking for graduates who were trained in the field, George Mason was well poised to capitalize on this growth. The school formed partnerships with big players in the technology industry, and students were gaining access to hands on experiences in the field.

This hands-on, innovative approach to education led to George Mason offering the very first PhD program in computational sciences. As the industry forged ahead, the school understood the intersection of data science with other related fields, and decided to bring all of the science programs under one roof.

One of the unique features of the College of Sciences is the Data Lab, which is used by industries for research purposes. Students work on projects for local businesses, and also provide outreach to the local K-12 population, to show applications of data science. Giving students access to hands-on learning through real-life examples is an important aspect of the Data Lab. Additionally, Agouris notes that it is important to inspire younger students to understand how data science has an impact on their world.

In the second segment of the show, she talks about the importance for students to develop a variety of competencies and skill sets. The applications of data science and technology fields are ever changing, so it is important to cultivate the skills that will take students the furthest they can go. She speaks about how it is important for students to acquire good communication, presentation and writing skills, in addition to the scientific training, as employers want to hire well-rounded individuals.

Agouris is very proud of how well the GMU College of Science is doing in regard to attracting and retaining female students and faculty. Today, females comprise over 60% of the student body, and the faculty rate is even higher. She recognizes that not all programs are this successful in attracting and retaining women, and believes that inspiring girls at a young age to explore the field of science will help to increase the enrollment and retention numbers across the nation.

Finally, Agouris is excited about new and emerging fields that are being born each year. The Urban Science Initiative is a new program of study that has students evaluate the impact of environmental factors and variables on the human population. For example, students would study the affects of having a large business such as Amazon move into a neighborhood to understand the impacts that this change has on residents.  The impacts that are discovered can then be useful in helping to shape policy in order to minimize harmful outcomes.

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Genesys Works with Mioshi Moses and David Williams

(May 1, 2019) Catherine Read interviews Mioshi Moses, Executive Director of the National Capital Region and David Williams, CEO of Genesys Works. They empower high school students from challenged backgrounds to achieve college and career success through skills training and meaningful work experience.

Founded in 2002 by Rafael Alvarez in Houston, TX, Genesys Works came to life when he served on the board of a local charter school and was struck by the bleak prospects economically challenged students faced, at a time when companies like his were in need of new sources of talent.  His goal was to think outside the box and create a meaningful program to help students thrive.  Starting with 10 students, he developed an intern-based program that is a unique fusion of training, mentoring and professional experience.

Students who would otherwise not have access to professional experience opportunities are selected to apply to the program.  It is a rigorous application process because they want to be sure that the students are 100% committed to sticking with the program.  The students then spend the summer of their junior year in an intensive 8-week training program, designed to teach them both the technical skills they would need in an office, as well as the soft skills that they need to succeed.

Once senior year rolls around, the students have condensed classes in the morning to cover academics, then go on to work for 5 hours in a professional setting. This is a demanding program that expects the students to be able to stay on top of their academics, while balancing it with their internship.  In order to help each student succeed in their new professional environment, they are assigned a job coach to work with over the course of the year. This is someone who they can call on for advice on how to handle situations and challenges regarding their day-to-day duties.

David Williams Genesys WorksIn order to get this program off the ground, Alvarez had to develop relationships with companies who bought into their mission. Companies who were looking to give back to the community became solid partners, as well as those looking to grow their pipeline of talent. Companies find that by investing in students, they are investing in the future of the community as a whole. Since those first 10 students were placed in 2002, Genesys Works has grown to serve over 4,000 students in five cities (Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington National Capital Region and soon to be launched this summer New York City).

To date, 100 percent of the students who have participated in the program have graduated from high school, and 93 percent of them have gone onto college.   The program’s goal is to move more students out of poverty and into professional careers, creating a more productive and diverse workforce in the process. By giving underserved students the opportunity to succeed in a professional work environment while still in high school, they can open up career possibilities and pathways previously thought unattainable.

Moses runs the local chapter of the group here in the National Capital Region, and is excited about the prospect of exposing students to public sector jobs through opportunities with government agencies at the Federal, State and Local levels. They already have a program established with Fairfax County Government and Fairfax County Public Schools, and she is looking to grow those opportunities and add more partnerships over time. In order to accomplish this goal, Gensys Works is looking to grow their name recognition and increase philanthropic giving to support their mission and serve more students in need.

Moses shares that they were awarded two significant grants this year. One from the Jack Kent Cook Foundation, for $120,000 over 2 years, and the other from the Clark Foundation, for $1 million over a 3-year period. CEO David Williams, who took his post in January of 2019, is looking to grow the program exponentially during his tenure. Although the program has only been rolled out in larger metropolitan areas to date, Williams believes that this program can succeed anywhere.  They are looking to grow their geographic footprint in order to serve the needs of more students, companies and communities across the country.

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Formed Families Forward on Your Need to Know

(February 20, 2019) Catherine Read interviews Kelly Henderson and Dee Robinson-Rutkowski of Formed Families Forward (FFF). Their organization is dedicated to supporting foster, kinship and adoptive families of children and youth with disabilities and special needs.  They serve families, educators and child welfare professionals in the Northern Virginia area.

Formed Families Forward is a non-profit supported through a federal grant, established to assist adoptive and foster families navigate the complicated world of acquiring services to support children with special needs. Studies show that youth in foster and kinship care are at a higher risk of having disabilities, and therefore requiring special education services. In addition to medical needs, many of these children have suffered emotional trauma from being in an unstable environment, and need extra support to recover and become healthy and whole.

Dee came to Formed Families Forward after she and her husband adopted their two sons through the foster care system. They faced many challenges and had some very rocky years, especially during middle school. She became connected to FFF after meeting Kelly through her Middle School PTA. Dee is thankful to have had someone to help her navigate the system so that they could access the much needed resources to help her sons. It helped to ease their burden, and put her boys and their family on a path to wellness.

In addition to connecting families with the resources that they need, FFF also runs support groups for both students and parents. These groups are very important because families can connect with one another, and understand that they are not alone. FFF also conducts one on one consultations, so individual families can make sure that they understand how to find the support and resources that they need for their children, and get what their children need to thrive at school and at home.

As the organization evolves, Kelly and Dee note that they are working on different initiatives to meet their clients’ needs. They are just finishing up the production of a webinar focused on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the impacts and effects that this has on children as they age. They also have programming focused on ADD and ADHD, which is one of the most common diagnoses that children in foster and adoptive care face. In addition to helping families understand how to establish classroom accommodations, there are many things that parents can do with children at home to help manage symptoms.

In addition, there is a growing movement recognizing how trauma can affect children, and have an impact on their ability to learn and fully participate in the classroom. Trauma Informed Community Networks are being established in Fairfax County for the first time.  These networks are designed to help educators and service providers better understand the obstacles and challenges faced by students who have suffered from traumatic events at a young age, and help coordinate efforts in supporting these children.

Formed Families Forward is sponsoring their annual event on April 27th called Spring Forward Family Fun Day, which will be held on the Science and Technology Campus of George Mason University in Manassas. This year’s theme is Navigating Systems to Build Stronger Families.   While parents, educators and caregivers enjoy presentations by experts on education and support of foster, adoptive and kinship families, children ages 4 and above will be able to access experiential learning at GMU’s outdoor learning program called “The EDGE”. More details about the day, along with information about how to purchase tickets, can be found on their website

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Abrar Omeish and GIVE on Your Need to Know

(February 13, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Abrar Omeish, co-founder of GIVE Youth (Growth and Inspiration through Volunteering and Education) about the organization she helped to found, and her candidacy for the Fairfax County School Board.

Omeish and her friends came up with the concept of GIVE when they were in high school at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax. They identified a need in the community among low-income students who could not afford expensive tutors and academic prep courses to help them stay competitive when it came to applying to colleges. Additionally, they saw that many of these students did not have role models or mentors to look up to.

Omeish and her contemporaries founded GIVE in 2010, with the mission of promoting civic engagement and giving back to the community. Their goal is to invest in the next generation by striving to provide opportunities to those who seek them in the fields of education, empowerment and leadership. The program gives teens the opportunity to serve as mentors to young children, provides resources to underprivileged students, and promotes the importance of an enthusiastic attitude toward learning.

Starting in the basement of her parents’ home, Omeish and her friends organized and planned the launch of their first tutoring and mentoring site at the Mason District Government Center. Since that time, they have grown GIVE to over 20 centers throughout the county. What is truly remarkable about GIVE is that it continues to be run solely by students. They have various work groups that focus on different aspects of their organization, such as web development, fundraising, volunteer mobilization, student engagement and parent outreach.

Abrar Omeish GIVE FCPSGIVE focuses on pairing high school students with elementary school children, with the goal of developing relationships, inspiring younger students and helping to create continuity in the lives of the younger children. Many times, these young children do not have many strong role models in their life, so having an older student who gets to know them can be enough encouragement that helps them believe in themselves and have success in the classroom. Omeish notes that the high school students learn through the experience of teaching, and they get as much as the younger kids do out of the entire experience.

Additionally, the more experienced Board members help to mentor the new board members by teaching them how to run the organization. They also lift each other up during the college application process, and help one another by reading essays and giving feedback. GIVE aims to build community in a variety of ways.

In the second segment of the show Catherine speaks with Abrar about her run for at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board. She is passionate about creating a school system that offers equity and inclusion in education for all students, no matter where they live or what their ability is. Her idea of targeted universalism, where teachers prepare for the hardest case scenario, will create an environment where all students can achieve success.

As Omeish matriculated through the FCPS school system, she noticed the inequities that exist for low-income students. As a student, she worked to close the achievement gap through her founding of GIVE. Her run for school board is an extension of this philosophy, and she is excited to launch her campaign. She strongly believes that the diversity in Fairfax is one of its greatest strengths, and she would like to see more representation in both the teaching and administrative staff, as well as amongst the school board members. She strives to draw on her experience to move these issues forward, while also inspiring and standing up for children.