2013-2014 PHENND VISTA Biographies

Posted by on September 17, 2013

Hillary, Eden and I are delighted to welcome the newest members of the PHENND Team. Below you can read about their positions, skills and enthusiasm for working with us this year. After a month on the job and only one week in to the school year, our VISTAs are already becoming vital assets to their schools and offices. The contact information for each member of our new team is included. Please feel free to contact them as needed!

Julia Boyer

is the Community Partnerships Coordinator serving at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School (Kensington CAPA). Julia is a devoted educator and passionate advocate for the rights of students and individuals with mental health concerns and learning disabilities. She is especially excited to be working in the District at this crucial time, when her knowledge of education systems and desire to see fair and equal education for all can be leveraged to better the school she is working in. Julia hopes that through her time with PHENND and Kensington CAPA, she can bring her school together with programs that align their skills and talents with social justice initiatives so that students can see how their talents can truly impact the world they live in.

Her past experience includes community outreach and development at both a nonprofit focused on low-income families and an expanding educational nonprofit, a short stint teaching a class of 40 3rd-graders in a school slated for closing in Baltimore, a public relations internship at a world-renowned firm, and one previous term as an AmeriCorps with a state program. She holds a BA in English Literature from Goucher College. Julia is also working with the PHENND team to create the Millennial Youth Worker Network for young educators and youth workers in Philadelphia.

Julia can be reached at [email protected]

Malarie Grace

is the Community Partnerships Coordinator serving at W.D. Kelley Elementary School. Last year she served as a City Year Corps member at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School. She is also an MFA student at Arcadia University. Her field of study is creative writing with a concentration in poetry.  With this, and her interest in education reform, she hopes to motivate young writers to find their voices and their influences so that they might find their words cathartic.

Malarie can be reached at [email protected]

Abby Schottenfels

is the Community Partnerships Coordinator serving at Sayre High School in West Philadelphia. Previous to this position, she was a City Year Rhode Island Corps member in Providence, Rhode Island at Gilbert Stuart Middle School. City Year works to target students who are at risk of dropping out by working on the one on one level through attendance, behavior and course work. At City Year, she held the position of “Behavior Coordinator” who is responsible for increasing the culture and climate of the school through various community events and initiatives.  Prior to City Year, Abby received her BA in Arts and Humanities with an emphasis in Urban Education and Comparative Religious Studies at Michigan State University.

Abby can be reached at [email protected]

Caitlin Roman

is the Community Partnerships Coordinator serving at Penn Treaty School in Fishtown throughout the upcoming school year. Caitlin is a recent Temple University graduate and Philadelphia native. While pursuing her Bachelors in Sociology, Caitlin developed an interest in public education through volunteering with the AVID College Readiness Program at South Philadelphia High School. As a tutor and site coordinator, she worked to promote a college-going culture among students in the “academic middle” from historically under served populations. Following the completion of her undergraduate studies Caitlin worked briefly with Urban Roots, a local community development organization (awaiting 501c3 status) seeking to transform blighted urban spaces into dynamic and multipurpose community hubs. Following her VISTA term Caitlin hopes to go on to serve in the Peace Corps before eventually returning to school to pursue a Masters in Social Work.

Caitlin can be reached at [email protected]

Devon Hawkins Anderson

is the Strategic Partnerships Coordinator serving at the District’s newly created Office of Strategic Partnerships. Devon is passionate about learning and “living out loud”, infusing energy and exuberance into everything he does. After earning bachelor’s degrees in government and politics and general biology from the University of Maryland, College Park, Devon explored a wide range of fields before renewing his commitment to social justice and social impact work.  With experience in voter and consumer engagement, retail campaign management, brand management and strategy, direct marketing, and social media coordination, Devon pulls from an array of partnership and coalition-building roles.

More recently, as Community Education Outreach Advocate for the I-LEAD program at Harcum College, Chester, PA campus, Devon observed firsthand the human and economic costs of failed local higher education systems. This, he believed, would soon be acknowledged as one of the most pressing problems facing the region (and our country) today. Devon is eager to work with PHENND and District Chief of Strategic Partnerships Stacy Holland to help build and strengthen District-level partnerships to provide excellent educational experiences for Philly’s K-12 students by marshaling the abundant resources in our educational ecosystem.

Devon can be reached at [email protected]

Schinae Selah Peterson

is the School Advisory Council Liaison serving the Charter School Office at the School District of Philadelphia. Preceding her VISTA year of service, Schinae attended The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, double-majoring in Print Journalism and Religion. Schinae went on to serve as a City Year Corps Member with the Ballard Spahr team at Young Scholars Frederick Douglass Charter School in North Philadelphia as a role model, coach and mentor to the amazing students in her 7th and 8th grade literacy classes. Schinae is motivated to do great work as a part of the Renaissance Charter School initiative with the SAC and the Charter School Office.

Schinae can be reached at [email protected]

Dedra Totin

has been working as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Greater Philadelphia Corporate Volunteer Council since February. She has been assisting the GPCVC with infrastructure and programming work. In addition, she is working part-time out of the Office of Strategic Partnership in the School District of Philadelphia in attempt to create an on-ramp for volunteers in the school district. Dedra is from Pittsburgh, Pa and is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown where she studied Political Science and History.

Dedra can be reached at [email protected]

Margaret  McLaughlin

is the Community Partnerships Coordinator serving Kensington Health Sciences Academy. Margaret is an organizer and conversationalist. She graduated with a B.A. in Linguistics from the Temple University Honors Program and has spent much of her time working with youth organizations in the U.S. and in Nicaragua. Margaret is working on allied health vocational programs and getting parents more involved at Kensington Health Sciences Academy.

Margaret can be reached at [email protected]