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Anna WestExecutive Director
she/her, they/them awest@humanitiesamped.com Anna West is the proud Executive Director of Humanities Amped. An organizer and educator of socially engaged youth writing and research for over twenty years, Anna founded Forward Arts, co-founded Chicago’s Louder than a Bomb, the country’s largest youth poetry slam, and is a co-director of the Andover Bread Loaf summer educator workshop. She holds a PhD in English Education from Louisiana State University where she was awarded the 2018 Distinguished Dissertation Award in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. She holds a M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education where she received the 2011 Arts in Education Intellectual Contribution Award.
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Destiny Adams CooperInstructional Leader
she/her dadams@ebrschools.org After becoming a teacher in 2002, Destiny earned National Board certification in 2012 and an M.Ed. from LSU in 2014. Dedicated to creating meaningful and joyful experiences for students and teachers, Destiny partnered with Dialogue and Race, Forward Arts, and other community organizations while teaching in the classroom and contributing to teacher professional development. She co-founded Humanities Amped with Anna West in 2014 and became the Humanities Amped Curriculum Coordinator for EBRPSS in 2019. Working with multiple schools, Destiny leads teachers and their students in creating classrooms and schools that their communities desire.
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Alejandra torresCommunity Engagement Director & English Learner Instructional Coach
she/her alextorres@humanitiesamped.com Alejandra Torres is a bilingual educator and immigrant youth advocate. She is community Engagement Director and English Learner Instructional Coach for Humanities Amped and a PhD candidate in English at Louisiana State University. Her dissertation and advocacy work seek to address the educational needs of immigrant youth, particularly undocumented adolescent English Learners. She serves on the EBR ESL Task Force, Baton Rouge Immigrant Rights Coalition, Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants, and ICARE Advisory Board. She has worked with Humanities Amped since 2015.
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Emma GistOutreach Coordinator & Resident Support Teacher
she/her egist@humanitiesamped.com Emma Gist, Humanities Amped Outreach Coordinator and Resident Support Teacher, is a PhD student in Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University. Before joining Humanities Amped she taught high school English at Da Vinci Charter Academy, a Project-Based Learning school in Davis, CA, where she designed and implemented curriculum to promote inquiry, real-world connections, and the development of 21st century literacies and student voice, engaged in school- and district-wide restorative practices, and became a New Tech Network Certified Teacher. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Southern California.
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Diana AvilesCollege and Career Coordinator & Resident Support Teacher
she/her daviles@humanitiesamped.com Diana Aviles, a city girl from the Bronx, joined Humanities Amped Spring 2019 as the College & Career Coordinator and a Resident Support Teacher. She is a PhD student in Educational Leadership & Research: Higher Education Administration at Louisiana State University. As a first-generation college student, she earned her BS in Community Health and MA is School Counseling. For the past 19 years, she has worked in many capacities within higher education and K-12 systems. Still new to Baton Rouge, 2 years in, she is involved with the Latinx Caucus at LSU and is the secretary of El Centro De Avance.
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Desireé DallagiacomoResident Teaching Artist
she/her connect@humanitiesamped.com Desireé Dallagiacomo is a full-time touring artist and educator originally from rural California. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and she has been a finalist at every major poetry slam in the USA. Her poems have been featured widely, and a collection of her work was adapted for the Vagina Monologues at Tulane University. She is the co-host of a Southern Poetry podcast, Drawl, and in 2016 she founded an annual writing retreat for working class writers. She has taught and performed extensively across the US, Canada, and Australia. Her first full-length poetry collection, SINK (Button, 2019), is available wherever books are sold.
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Donney RoseResident Teaching Artist
connect@humanitiesamped.com Donney Rose is a poet, teaching artist, essayist, podcast host and community activist from Baton Rouge. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. He is a 2018-2019 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow and a member of Baton Rouge Business Report's 2017 Forty Under 40 Class.
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NKOSIE MOYOResident Support Teacher
he/him nmoyo@humanitiesamped.com Nkosilathi Moyo graduated with a BA ‘honours’ in English and Communication from Midlands State University (Zimbabwe) in 2015. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in Britain at Coventry University where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Communication, Culture and Media in 2018. In the past, he has taught Literature in English as a Temporary Teacher at high school. Presently, he is studying for a PhD in Comparative Literature at LSU with research interests in decolonial theories,Global Hip Hop and African Diaspora Cultures.
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Jayla ToneyResident Support Teacher
she/her jtoney@humanitiesamped.com Jayla is a Slidell, Louisiana native who located to Baton Rouge in 2016. She is studying English Education at Louisiana State University, and is anticipated to graduate in the spring of 2020. Upon graduation, she will pursue a Master of Arts in Education. She began working with Humanities Amped in the fall of 2019.
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Lisa nolandLab Teacher - McKinley Senior High School
she/her lnoland@ebrschools.org Lisa Noland is a Humanities Amped Lab Teacher and LSU alumna. She has been an English and Foreign Language teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish for over 27 years. Her current focus area is empowering English Language Learners at McKinley Senior High School to find their voice in a new language and aiding them in achieving their educational goals.
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Brittany Perrie RainboltLab Teacher - McKinley Senior High School
she/her brainbolt@ebrschools.org Brittany Perrie Rainbolt is an English teacher at McKinley Senior High School. She earned her Masters in Education from Louisiana State University in 2010 and an Education Specialist degree in Gifted Education in 2018. She has taught both middle and high school, where she focuses on bridging gaps in understanding through project-based learning, a reimagining of the cannon, and flipped classroom experiences. She has worked with Humanities Amped since 2016.
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Barbara aranedaLab Teacher - Belaire High School
they/them baraneda@ebrschools.org Barbara Araneda is an engineer and teacher at Belaire Magnet High. Araneda earned their undergraduate in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida and holds certifications in Chemical Engineering Process Controls, Urban Planning, GIS, and Sustainability. While pursuing a Masters of Natural Science at Louisiana State University (LSU) with certificates in Mathematics for Advanced Secondary Instruction and Gifted Education, Araneda has helped develop and pilot LSU’s Pre-Engineering JumpStart Pathway curriculum. Araneda is now piloting the application of the Humanities Amped curriculum to STEAM courses, hoping to empower youth to solve societies’ problems by merging analytical, problem solving with communication skills.
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Celeste PayneLab Teacher - Belaire High School
cpayne1@ebrschools.org Celeste Payne is a graphic artist and art educator from Long Island, New York. She holds a BA in Art with a concentration in Visual Communications from North Carolina Central University, studied Computer-Mediated Art Education at The Ohio State University, and earned her teacher certification at the University of Florida. She has designed book covers for several independent authors and hosts community arts and empowerment workshops. She has served as a 3rd grade ELA/Social studies classroom teacher and K-5 art teacher at Claiborne Elementary and currently teaches Art I, Art II and Graphic Arts at Belaire High School.
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Brian PowellLab Teacher - Westdale Middle School
he/him bpowell1@ebrschools.org Brian Powell is an English teacher at Westdale Middle School. Brian earned his Masters in Education from Boston Teacher Residency, where he also served as a City Year corps member. He is the English Department Head at Westdale, a recent alumnus of the Fulbright program Teachers for Global Classrooms, and has collaborated with Humanities Amped since 2016.
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Amanda DillonContributing Teacher - Broadmoor High School
she/her adillon@ebrschools.org Amanda L. Dillon is a proud alumna of Southeastern Louisiana University. After earning her BA, she taught English in the Washington Parish area for twelve years before moving to the great city of Baton Rouge. With a desire to further her career and her knowledge of the education field, Amanda earned a Master of Arts in Reading with Emphasis in Secondary Education from Grand Canyon University. Later, she graduated with a Master’s in Education Administration from Grand Canyon University as well. Equipped with the necessary education, Amanda hopes to continue to work as an educator and help her students achieve success.
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Suredrika harrisonContributing Teacher - Westdale Middle School
she/her sharrison@humanitiesamped.com Suredrika Harrison is a middle school Math Teacher and Teacher Mentor from Baton Rouge. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. Presently, she is studying for a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
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Ashanta Gleason
Resident Support Teacher
connect@humanitiesamped.com
connect@humanitiesamped.com
Jayla ToneyResident Support Teacher
connect@humanitiesamped.com |
Jorissa HebertResident Support Teacher
connect@humanitiesamped.com |
Elizabeth DurkeeLab Teacher
edurkee@ebrschools.org |
Brittany RainboltLab Teacher
brainbolt@ebrschools.org |
Shelby GambleLab Teacher
sgamble@ebrschools.org |
Amelia HammondLab Teacher
ahammond@ebrschools.org |
Pedro CerdaParaeducator
connect@humanitiesamped.com |
MOrgan JohnsonParaeducator
connect@humanitiesamped.com |
