Closing the Racial Gap in STEM: From Theory to Practice

Kansas City Public Library's Andrea Ellis moderates the final session of this five-part series examining the racial gap in STEM education. The keynote is provided by Samara Crawford Herrera, Director of Community Partnerships at SchoolSmart KC, where she works to convene, connect, leverage and drive key partners and stakeholders to support and demand quality schools on behalf of students and families within the Kansas City education community. Most recently, Samara served as Manager of Community Partnerships, Advocacy and Engagement for the Kansas City Public Schools where she led the overall strategic and operational planning of KCPS family and community outreach efforts. A social worker, community organizer and early education specialist by education and training, Samara has a Master of Social Work from the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts from Spelman College. She is a veteran of the Navy and mother to one spirited teenage daughter. Sequoia Beauchamp teaches fifth grade in the Center School District, where she was recently named building teacher of the year. She is a Project Lead The Way Launch Lead Teacher, has taught Camp Invention and has participated in multiple aspects of FIRST Lego League robotics, including coaching and judging events. Edgar Palacios, founder of the Latinx Education Collaborative (LEC), believes that building trust and empathy are foundational elements for human connection and that for school-aged children, having meaningful and trusting relationships with educators and role models is just as important as math and science classes. Born in Miami to a family of immigrants who fled Nicaragua during the civil war, Edgar grew up with an overwhelming influence of Latin America. In a community where close to 70 percent of the population is Latinx, Edgar shared and celebrated a similar cultural heritage with his teachers, neighbors and friends. When he was 11, his family moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he soon realized that not every city, town or rural area of America welcomes children from the Latino community. Most especially, none of his teachers or classmates looked like him or understood his background. These experiences persisted when the family eventually moved to Missouri. Edgar believes his social and emotional development would have been profoundly enhanced if he had what his peers had—a meaningful connection with teachers and classmates. In 2018, Edgar founded the LEC to increase the representation and support of Latinx education professionals in the K-12 space. He keeps a daily pulse on what’s happening in the community of Latinx teachers, providing a safe environment and nurturing place to come together and build innovative solutions discovered through collaboration. Sylvester Mobley is the founder and CEO of Coded by Kids (CBK), a tech and innovation education organization that focuses on preparing underrepresented people for leadership roles in the tech and innovation space. Under Sylvester’s leadership, CBK has significantly increased the scope of its impact and launched initiatives to ensure all underrepresented Philadelphia residents have access to opportunities in tech and innovation. Within six years, the organization has grown from serving fewer than 15 students in one recreation center to teaching hundreds of students each week in locations across the region. Sylvester’s other major initiatives include launching the early-stage venture capital firm, startup incubator, and startup accelerator, Plain Sight Capital. Sylvester is a graduate of Temple University’s Fox School of Business and participated in the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Venture Capital Executive Education Program. He is also a veteran of the war in Iraq, serving in three branches of the United States military (Marines, Air Force, and Army) over 12 years.

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