Yasmin Alemayehu is a first-generation Somali American. Yasmin is an undergraduate honors student at Grand Valley State University studying Elementary Education with an emphasis on Applied Linguistics. This past summer, Yasmin was given the opportunity to teach grade-aged students within Ramallah, Palestine through a curriculum that uplifts students that face injustices and inequalities. Passionate about education, human rights, and advocacy, Yasmin conducted a presentation named “Disrupting Whiteness within the Education System” involving community members and undergraduate students to speak about the inequalities that are presented within schooling that disproportionately affects students of color. Yasmin is a McNair Scholar with hopes of furthering her research revolving around the damaging effects of linguistic discrimination and injustices that occur within the classroom. Yasmin’s academic goals consist of receiving a Ph.D. in the field of Sociolinguistics and hopes to teach abroad and conduct field research within East Africa.
Kimberly Arriaga-Gonzalez is a Fulbright Peru Grantee and graduated from Salisbury University. For her undergraduate research project she worked on creating an open source story booklet for families focusing on Meso-American folklore. The project focused on developing philosophical questions and interactive storytelling for elementary and middle school students. Her favorite scholars include Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Maria Lugones, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Robin Wall-Kimmerer. Kimberly hopes to continue studying Meso-American literature and philosophy. In her free time, Kimberly joins her friends in a feminist book club, she enjoys going to the beach and playing with her cat Bruno.
Brittany Atkins is a recent graduate of the University of the West indies where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literatures in English and Film Studies. During her studies as an undergraduate student, her research titled, Queer and Here: An Analysis of Olive Senior’s Representation of Queerness in Summer Lightning and The Pain Tree, explored ideas of queer representation within the West Indian literary canon, as a descendant of a post-colonial society. This foray into identity politics has developed into a passion she wishes to explore further during her graduate studies. Additionally, Brittany is enthralled by science fiction and fantasy, and her favourite novel to date is Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein. Outside of academia, she enjoys creative writing and philosophy. It is Brittany’s hope to complete her master’s and remain within academia as a part of her professional career.
Erica Green (she/her) is a Buffalo State College graduate of 2021 where she was the first recipient of the recently reinstated Africana Studies bachelor’s degree. Erica is currently a sophomore graduate student at the University at Albany majoring in Africana Studies. She is from Rochester, NY. She is a 2020 undergraduate summer research fellow (USRF). She has recently been selected as a finalist for 2023’s fellowship on Women and Public Policy at the Women’s Leadership Academy Center for Women in Government and Civil Society, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany State University of New York. Erica’s future plans include attending a Ph.D. program. She plans to teach English and Africana Studies while continuing her research on the impact of Urban literature on black girls/women. Erica plans to connect scholarly material and her lived experiences through her writing. Erica is very passionate about breaking down the disparities in higher education that disenfranchises lower income black and brown communities. Her hobbies include singing and songwriting.
Ramario Ricketts is a recent graduate of the University of the West Indies, where he majored in Literature in English and minored in Film Studies. His interests range from contemporary to historical literary and filmic writers focused on evolving flawed ideas of blackness by rewriting colonial indoctrination and sharing authentic black experiences from the fountain of cultural motifs and ideologies. Ramario is most passionate about wielding the sword of academic writing to contribute to the conversation that will help rid toxic and hyper masculinity in the black community. He plans on becoming a professor so he can help to build a community dedicated to ensuring that black young men, especially, appreciate the dynamic nuances of what masculinity truly is. In his free time, he sings, acts, directs, reads, binges, and critiques TV shows.
Jaydy Mir Sira is a Linguistics graduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. She comes from a multicultural background that has influenced her academic research and interests. Growing up in a Puerto Rican/Venezuelan home exposed her to appreciate language, discourse, law, and body politics in Puerto Rico, The United States, and the Caribbean. She has publications of poetry and translation in Volumes on the Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the Caribbean and in Sargasso there is a forthcoming edition with a book review. Her work has been presented in conferences in the Caribbean and in Austria. She has worked in the past as the assistant editor of Tonguas Magazine. She aspires to continue her research on Language and Law and hopefully become a college professor.
Wisdom Ware is a full-time Provost scholar and Junior English Major at Tougaloo College. She is president of the P.E.N.S. Creative Writing club, where she co-leads writing workshops with her peers. She is a Teaching Fellow at the Mississippi Museum of Art, where she provides tours and produces gallery research. Ms. Ware is also a member of the Tougaloo College Concert Choir and acted as a student Poet at Tougaloo’s President’s Convocation, where she performed one of her many original poems. Ms. Ware was hired as a student researcher and became a Mellon Fellow under Johns Hopkins University’s First-Year Research Experience (F.Y.R.E.) program. While in the program, she presented an original research project at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium and the Johns Hopkins Research Symposium. Ms. Ware became an Alpha Lambda Delta National Honors Society member in 2021. She was also awarded “Budding Scholar” from the English department as a Sophomore in 2021, an award typically given to junior and senior students. She plans to become an established poet and English professor in the future.