Guest Blog – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

A Personal Reflection on Walking

LaShawnda Brooks, Executive Director, IRT

When we advise our students, we often tell them to take things one step at a time. I am taking my advice by participating in this year’s Jimmy Fund Walk. When I worked at America Needs You, Robert Reffkin’s commitment to running marathons for our students inspired me. “He has lost his mind,” I would whisper as I focused on program reports.

Well, maybe I have lost my mind. After watching a cousin pass away from an aggressive cancer within five months, I began to walk to process his loss, my work, and what life is for. As an educator, the desire to put others first while knowing that our health and outcomes often come second can have dire consequences. We must take the time to care for ourselves while we care for our community.

Next year, please consider joining me on this walk! I would love to develop a #TeamIRT, as we have alumni and broader community members affected by cancer. Walking together can be a way for us to be there for each other and resist the burdens and stress we experience daily. Feel free to reach out and let us know if you are engaging in any community support!

Legacies of Brown, Part 1

IRT Advisory Board Member Jasmine Ma, PA, ’23

Although Brown v. Board of Education is known as a landmark ruling that outlawed segregation in schools, it also caused a sharp decline in the number of Black educators and altered the cultural perceptions of the teaching profession. This series, Legacies of Brown, seeks to examine the consequences of Brown’s aftermath and provide a historical context for the founding and mission of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers.

*In this article, “minority” refers to Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Alaska Native, and people of two or more races.

New Role for former IRT Associate Director, Kate Slater

It’s been over a month since my last day at the IRT, and truthfully, I’ve missed it every single day. I was employed at the IRT for six years, first as the Coordinator for Recruitment and Admissions (later renamed the Recruitment & Admissions Program Specialist), then as the Associate Director and Manager of Programs, and briefly, as the Interim Director. I’ve seen the IRT go through a host of changes in the relatively short time I’ve been there. But through those changes, the organization has also stayed true to a radical re-envisioning of the American education system.
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Reflections from J.T. Roane, IRT ’08

I have the honor of serving as the co-editor of Black Perspectives, the award-winning digital platform of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) along with Dr. Sasha Turner. Dr. Keisha Blain founded the site in 2017 with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi serving as associate editor. Black Perspectives emerged as an outgrowth of the original AAIHS blog founded by Dr. Chris Cameron in 2014 as part of his efforts to build AAIHS. I began writing for the platform in 2017, in 2018 I became an associate editor, and in January 2019, I assumed the role of senior editor.

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Balancing Work and Life Commitments

IRT’s Associate Director and Manager of Programs Kate Slater shares her insights on time management.

Over the course of the past few years, I’ve been working full-time while also enrolled as a full-time doctoral student, and I’ve learned a thing or two about time management over those years. In 2016, it felt like a near-impossible undertaking to be advising a cohort of 45 students at the IRT, going on the road to recruit, and also attending three hour seminars three days a week at the University of New Hampshire. I floundered for a few months as I came to terms with a new piece of my identity, and as a super Type-A human being, it was a profoundly humbling experience to realize that, quite frankly, I couldn’t do it all.

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