‘Penny Operation’ professor discusses change

November 20, 2009 by Leslie Ventura 

Groups encouraging community participation gather

“Be the change to see the change,” said UNLV education leadership professor Sonya Horsford, stressing the importance of serving the community at Tuesday night’s Penny Exchange.

Community service organizations met as part of a program put on by the Black Student Organization to show students the many ways to give back to their community.

Representatives from the United Way, Urban League Young Professionals and Children’s Defense Fund explained ways people can give back to their community and serve.

Focusing on three main elements, Horsford, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Educational Leadership, asked the audience what change they wish to see, what they need to accomplish it and how to know when they’ve succeeded.

As the founder of the first Las Vegas Freedom School and an assistant professor at UNLV, Horsford spent the majority of her time explaining the summer literacy program started by the Children’s Defense Fund. The school, which will need 10 interns for the summer, is an integrated reading program for children grades K-8 that takes place over the course of six weeks at the Rainbow Dreams Academic Charter School in Las Vegas.

“Training is intense. It starts with a week in Tennessee,” said Tarryn McGhie, president of the Black Graduate Student Association.

McGhie also interned during last year’s Freedom School program. “It’s an environment where you are encouraged to step outside of yourself,” she said.

All interns go through a week of training in Tennessee, something representatives agreed was well worth the experience.

During the program, one Freedom School scholar demonstrated her favorite part of the day, chanting and cheering “We got it, we, we got it!” with the rest of the audience.

Horsford added that the purpose of the school is to “provide culturally relevant learning opportunities and serve the whole child.”

Brianna Thomas, who also interned last year at the Freedom School, explained that the material covered in the program “isn’t just about lollipops and teddy bears.”

Many of the stories students read may talk about topics like abuse and children may add things they’ve seen in their own households, Thomas explained.

Representatives agreed that it is a positive thing for the children to read material that represents them and incorporates characters that look like them.

At the end of the presentation Shayla Washington, executive assistant of the BSO, asked attendees to make a penny pledge to motivate change, inspired by Mahatma Ghandi’s famous quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Parents who wish to enroll children in the school can attend a meeting on Nov. 30 for more information.