ACE Hooks Teaching Fellows

Carlos Bolton, M.F.A.

Carlos Bolton holds an M.F.A. in English from the University of Memphis. His concentration was in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry. “Two Faces” is the title of his Master’s thesis, which can be read in the McWherter Library. Mr. Bolton was a member of both the Phi Theta Kappa Society and the Sigma Tau Delta, an international English Honor Society. He attended Christian Brothers University, where he had an Academic Scholarship from 1999-2002. ACE Academy, Carlos believes, can be instrumental in improving the college entrance exam scores of its students by proactively preparing them to enter college. Perhaps even more importantly, he believes students can be mentored in the art of writing, which ultimately would mean that colleges could be more confident that they are getting students who have been well prepared for their college experience.

Jakayla L. Dickson

Ms. Dickson, a 2005 Whitehaven High School graduate and Education major at the University of Memphis, works as a Teaching Fellow with 7th and 8th graders at ACE Academy. Her commitment is motivated by a love for the kids and a desire to model for them a successful educational trajectory. Ultimately she hopes to work as a teacher for the Memphis City Schools.

Jason R. Dickson

Mr. Dickson, a 2000 Central High graduate, is an education and psychology major. His ultimate career goal is to be an administrator in higher education. He looks forward to working with ACE students in order to serve them, while expanding his professional scope.

Anna Edwards

Anna Edwards, a Mississippian, is attending the University of Mississippi, where she majors in Geological Engineering. Her ultimate career goal is to have her own oil company and youth center. She dreams of giving back to the community that nurtured her, and she especially wants to create liberatory zones of literature and the sciences in towns like the one where she grew up. “These kids need the reinforcement of knowing that someone supports them,” Anna wrote in her application. “It’s the simple thought of being a light in the dark to the future of our nation,” that compels her to commute from Oxford to Memphis twice a month to participate in ACE Academy. She does so because someone gave their time to her. Ms. Edwards hopes that hopes that ACE Academy will become “a stepping stone to success for its students.”

Reginald K. Ellis, M.A.S.S.

Reginald K. Ellis returns for a second year of teaching at the ACE Academy. Mr. Ellis will be teaching West African history. “Most people,” he says, “have a limited understanding about Africa,” and he thinks that the Busch Gardens exhibit in Florida is indicative of this perspective. It is called “The Dark Continent,” which Reggie feels reinforces inaccurate stereotypes of a diverse and complex region.

A third-year doctoral student in the History Department, Reggie Ellis does not confine his graduate learning experience solely to the classroom. He believes in lifelong learning beyond the school walls. “As a young African-American male,” Reggie writes, “I was influenced by African-American historians to strive for knowledge and truth. Therefore I want to pass that along to the next generation.”

As a senior in high school, Reggie was told by his college counselor that he was not really “college material” based on his academic performance. Since he was an avid football player during his first two years of high school, he was taken out of college-track classes in favor of easier courses. Unlike many students faced with disparaging comments by such a source, Reggie knew that his grades were not the sum total of his educational worth and went on to Florida A&M. Rather than succumbing to the college counselor’s estimation of his potential, Reggie used those words as a challenge to work even harder and to prove her wrong.

He received his B.S. in African American Studies in 2003 from Florida A & M University, and an M.A.S.S. in United States History from the same school in 2004. At the University of Memphis, he holds a Provost Diversity Fellowship. His dissertation is going to be a study of the role of the black college president in his community during the late 19th and early 20th century. After completing his Ph.D., Mr. Ellis aims to be a great historian who helps to change the historiography of African American history.

Trenton R. Ensley

Trenton R. Ensley, a senior at the University of Memphis, plans to graduate in December 2006 with a double major in physics and mathematics sciences. He attended high school at M.L. King, Jr. Academic Magnet High School, from which he graduated as a Distinguished Scholar in May 2003. Since his arrival at the U of M, Mr. Ensley has won numerous prizes, scholarships, and competitions including a scholarship from 100 Black Men, Inc., a Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship, and a Distinguished African-American Scholarship. After graduation he plans to become a doctoral student either at Georgia Tech in Atlanta or at the Center for the Research of Electro-Optics and Lasers in Orlando. Despite a demanding schedule, Trenton is willing to spend two Saturday mornings a week teaching 300 students from the Delta, rural Tennessee, and Memphis math and physics because he feels it is important for positive role models to be present in young men and women’s lives. Mr. Ensley believes that the ACE Academy could become a premier tool in changing the learning styles of high school students. “By challenging them socially and academically,” Trenton remarked, “the students can become confident and comfortable with their learning skills.”

Amber D. Floyd

Amber Floyd is double majoring in English and * at the University of Memphis. Ms. Floyd is the recipient of several distinguished scholarships, including the Chandra F. Pleasant Scholarship. After graduation, she plans to go to law school. Amber is most interested in civil rights and international law. She is passionate about analyzing power structures in America, especially along race-and-class lines, and hopes to use a law degree to help eradicate social injustices plaguing certain classes, races, and/or ethnicities. Ms. Floyd works with ACE because she wants to see the profound effect of African history, African-American literature, and written self-expression on children who normally are not exposed to such things, and she wants help children discover these things.

Rita L. Gibson-Dye, M.A.

Ms. Gibson-Dye, a Hooks Teaching Fellow, is a second-year law student at the University of Memphis, where her study is supported by two scholarships. Born and raised in Greenville, Mississippi, Rita earned her B.A. in Sociology and a Masters of Public Administration from Mississippi State University. She was inducted into the Honor Society, Pi Alpha Alpha. She envisions a future career trajectory that encompasses both practicing law and development work for non-profit organizations. Rita takes time out of her busy schedule to work with the students in ACE Academy because she believes “it is imperative that children have the opportunity to attain the skills that are necessary for them to succeed and [she] wants to be an integral part of that process.”

J. Nicole Greer

J. Nicole Greer is in the process of completing her B.A. in English (African-American literature). Simultaneously, she is finishing minors in Women’s Studies and Sociology. Her current research project is entitled, “Singing with a Sword in My Hand: A Tsunamic Collective Confronts Feminism’s Waves of Political and Ideological Exclusivity,” which she intends to submit to the National Women’s Studies Association’s Women of Color Caucus for publication. Ms. Greer plans to pursue an advanced degree broadening the scope of her current coursework in literature, cultural studies and the social sciences. She is committed passionately to working with youth, women, and racial and ethnic minorities, and envisions a future profession where her loyalties will intersect effortlessly and her dreams for fundamental change, directly affecting those served, will be realized.

Recently, J. Nicole was awarded the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award for contributing over 450 hours of service to the Breakthrough Collaborative, a national non-profit that improves the educational trajectory of underserved, academically motivated, and ethnically diverse middle-school students attending low-income schools. Ms. Greer is drawn to participate in ACE Academy because she is aware of the grim statistics surrounding those students whose educational aspirations often go unacknowledged. “I am hopeful that I will inspire transformative change throughout my lifetime and within the ACE Academy one life at a time,” explains J. Nicole. “I hold a firm belief that the ACE Academy will propel the next generation of leaders, advocates, activists, and social reformers to not only fulfill but also exceed their individual objectives and consciously create collective global change—fueled by the idea that knowledge equals power. The Academy lays the framework for this achievement, this confidence, this excellence.”

Keith A. Hammond

Keith Hammond, a graduate of Melrose High School, received the 4-year African-American Achievement Scholarship and was a finalist for an Apple Computer Scholarship. He also was a finalist in the 2006 Howard/Microsoft Skins Competition for his Breast/HIV Awareness skin posted nationwide on the AIDS foundation website, and he won the Egghead Award for young engineers. In his junior year, Keith won first place in a regional robotics competition. Mr. Hammond was a Hooks Junior Scholar in the summer of 2005, and is a freshman this fall at The University of Memphis in the Biomedical Engineering program. Keith will be working with the Hooks Institute as a Hooks Teaching Fellow at the ACE Academy, where he will teach computer skills and ACT/SAT prep methods to 200 students from the Mississippi Delta, Memphis City Schools, and Fayette County, Tennessee. He wants to see ACE become a major part of both increasing the graduation rate of inner city schools, and of providing the tools and techniques needed to acquire the funds needed to pay for tuition at institutions of advanced learning.

Ashira Y. Israel

Ashira Israel is a senior at the University of Memphis, where she is majoring in African and African American studies with a focus on African history. Ashira is willing to dedicate 2 Saturday mornings a month to working with ACE students because she believes that “children are desperately searching for positive mentors who can guide them in the necessary directions that will lead them to excellent academic achievements.” Ms. Israel hopes that ACE Academy will encourage young students to develop a passion for learning, so that they will one day become scholars in the areas of history, literature and science.

Hillary Knight

Text forthcoming.

Regina A. Lowery, M.S.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Regina Lowery, a Ph.D. student at the University of Memphis in Educational Research is “willing to work with ACE students because [she] was in a similar position when [she] was in high school. The importance of having access to opportunities that expose students to learning experiences outside of their regular community,” she believes, is critical to the successful achievement of their goals. Ms. Lowery sees ACE Academy as “a community of learners eager to impact their school, the nation and the world.”

Laura Lyons

Laura Lyons, a senior in Physics at the University of Memphis and a graduate of Northside High School, will be teaching African-American history to ACE Academy students under the direction of Dr. Penner, her former teacher. Ms. Lyons is willing to devote several hours a month to teaching African-American history because, in her words, “What greater task in life than to help a child find his/her way towards greatness?” Ultimately, she hopes that ACE will serve as a “safe haven where students can learn and grow to improve their environments.”

Mary Powell

Mary Powell joins ACE Academy for a second year of service in the classroom. Her goal is to make ACE “the most sought after African-based program in Memphis.” Mary wants it to be known for its knowledge and its love. Mary holds a B.A. in African and African American Studies with a minor in Social and Behavioral Science from the University of Memphis. She is currently a first-year teacher at the Marcus Garvey Institute. Ms. Powell’s ultimate career goal is to own her own school and/or teach at the University level. Teaching the histories and languages of the African diaspora is her mission in life.

Sara D. Smith

Ms. Smith’s parents were Freedom Fighters for justice; as their daughter, she is attracted to the power of history as she strives to preserve their legacy. Her mother oversaw a rigorous academic enrichment program in her home every summer to supplement the failing schools in her hometown, Leland, Mississippi. Ms. Smith continued her scholarly journey at Mississippi Delta Community College. There, as a freshman majoring in Political Science, she was chosen to attend an American Political Science Association conference, where she led a roundtable discussion on the process of truth and reconciliation in the American South.

Upon graduation, she was accepted to The University of Mississippi, where she majored in Political Science with an emphasis in African American Studies. She was Vice President of the Gospel Choir, which was nominated for a Grammy Award and received a regional Grammy in 2001. Sara’s commitment to her passion, African and African American Studies, compelled her to enroll at The University of Memphis after completing her degree. She wanted to major in her chosen field, and she didn’t feel she had enough exposure at The University of Mississippi. In the fall of 2005, Ms. Smith began work on an M.A. in History, focusing on African American and Minority Studies.

After finishing her Ph.D., she plans to research, write, and teach in order to remove the educational gaps so prevalent in her hometown and to assist others in transcending artificial limits and finding self-actualization through the discipline of History. She has a passion for African American Oral History and Folklore. In her free time she writes poetry and performs spoken word poetry. Sara Smith is bridging the gap between culture, history, and politics with intellectual diversity and understanding.

Jonathan D. Wallace

Jonathan Wallace is currently attending the University of Memphis with a major in African-American Studies and a minor in Psychology. A book of poetry is being crafted as well. Ultimately, Jay believes that he wants to teach, because the vocation chose him. He is willing to work with the ACE kids because so many others are not. “The youth need to know that they are cared for and that they are believed in,” Mr. Wallace writes. “It falls to every generation to reach back and help to pull the next generation forward.” ACE Academy, in Jay’s view, is “a safe place for students to ‘find their center,’ and a stepping stone for them to become more.”

Darius Young, M.A.S.S.

Originally born and raised in Detroit, Darius comes to Memphis from Florida A & M University, where he received two degrees in 2004 and 2005—the first in African American Studies, and the second, a M.A.S.S. in History. At the University of Memphis, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in U.S. History since 1877 with an emphasis on African-American history and race relations in the South. Robert R. Church, Jr. fascinates him as a possible dissertation topic. The recipient of numerous graduate awards, the most recent being the prestigious Donovan Travel Award, Mr. Young aspires to serve as a professor of History at an institution of higher education. He plans to spend his life researching, writing, and publishing materials related to the African American struggle. Most recently Darius had an article on Henry Harmon (Florida’s first African-American attorney) published in the Florida Historical Quarterly.