Community Outreach & Partnership
2024 National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference
In 1990, the National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Conference, formerly known as the National Youth-At-Risk Conference, was founded by Georgia Southern University’s College of Education. The name change was adopted in 2021 and was encouraged by the youth the program serves. The Conference continues to provide prominent training for all individuals devoted to promoting and advancing the well-being of youth. For over 30 years, the conference continues to encourage the participation of educators at all levels including Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Criminal Justice Professionals, Business and Community Leaders and Volunteer Service Providers.
Past conference speakers have included nationally and internationally recognized educators and youth advocates such as Geoffrey Canada, Ron Clark, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brown, TV celebrity Judge Glenda Hatchett, and several National Teachers of the Year. In its 34th year, the conference has grown from a regional conference of 150 participants to a national conference of approximately 1400 participants and presenters from across the globe.
The 2024 NYAR Conference was held March 3-6th at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Savannah, Georgia. Keynote speakers included Dardi Hendershott, Co-founder of Hope 4 The Wounded, LLC and co-author of Supporting the Wounded Educator: A Trauma-Sensitive Approach to Self-Care, Manuel Scott, Ph.D., author and Freedom Writer, and Keith Brown, Principal Speaker and Lead Consultant.
Alisa Leckie, Assistant Dean for Partnerships and Outreach and Co-Chair of NYAR, expressed how the goals of the 2024 conference were to make it more personable for youth.
“NYAR 2024 was a resounding success. Participants left inspired and energized to continue doing the important work of supporting youth in our communities. It is a privilege to work with our presenters and participants each year,” she said.
Taylor Norman, Associate Professor of English Language Arts and Co-Chair of NYAR shared her experience on this year’s conference.
“This year’s conference, like so many in the past, created a proactive and productive space for our participants and attendees. I am honored to do this work, and inspired by the passion, purpose, and commitment embodied by our diverse and beautiful community,” she said.
The conference was a huge success with more than 200 presentations and over a thousand participants. Georgia Southern anticipates this number will continue growing and benefitting young people around the world and is excited for the future of our youth as we build on this success.
Gulfstream expands grad assistantship
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is expanding their graduate assistantship this fall to include a second student from Georgia Southern University’s College of Education (COE). For the past six years, the assistantship has been a unique two-year assignment to support Gulfstream’s Student Leadership Program (SLP) in Savannah. Rather than complete her term, the current grad assistant, Paige Ringer, will continue with Gulfstream in a new role. In her new role, Ringer will be part of a team that helps oversee all three of the company’s SLP sites, including the program’s newest location that is launching in East St. Louis, Illinois. With Ringer stepping into this new role, it became necessary to add additional support to the SLP site in Savannah so Amber Lewis will be starting a new graduate assistant term at this site. Both students are enrolled in the COE’s Ed.S. in School Psychology program.
Gulfstream’s SLP is a fully funded mentorship program that brings high school students through a 3-year custom leadership curriculum. The program includes partnerships with community advisors, visits to industry sites, and small group learning opportunities. The Savannah SLP is the largest program site, with more than 400 high schoolers enrolled. Currently, 150 students participate in the Appleton, Wisconsin program and 50-60 teens will start at the East St. Louis location.
Kyle Redner, Public Affairs State Director at Gulfstream, attributes the success of SLP to the contributions of COE students. He says, “We appreciate the fresh energy and creative thinking that our COE grad assistants bring to the team. The partnership with Georgia Southern contributes to the overall success of our Student Leadership Program, allowing us to further support these high school students and provide them with more opportunities.”
For more information about the Gulfstream’s SLP, visit discoverslp.com
Summer training for Hodge Elementary leadership
Georgia Southern’s College of Education (COE) is making sure that Sarah Mills Hodge Elementary School (Hodge) starts school with confidence this fall. Ten teachers from the Savannah school have been selected to participate in custom, grant-funded training and curriculum development this summer. The cohort will focus on incorporating new Georgia state standards for literacy and math with an emphasis on the first 9 weeks of the semester.
The training began June 12 with instructors from COE on-site at Hodge for a three-day workshop. The cohort will work virtually over several weeks before meeting back in July for another workshop. In addition to guidance and instruction over the summer, COE will provide ongoing support during the school year.
The training is made possible by a $10,000 grant from the Georgia Power Foundation awarded to COE. COE faculty participants are Jarvis Jackson Ph.D., Anne Valauri Ph.D. and Alesia Moldavan, Ph.D. All three teach Elementary and Special Education on the Armstrong Campus.
Students deployed as literacy tutors
This June, 62 college students provided literacy tutoring for elementary school summer learning programs in Statesboro and Savannah. The tutors worked with small groups of students for four weeks to prevent summer learning loss and improve student attitudes about reading.
The tutors were recruited from Georgia Southern University, Savannah State University, East Georgia College, Savannah Technical College and Ogeechee Technical College. They received training from Georgia Southern’s College of Education (COE) faculty before interacting with students. Then, midway through the term, they received additional training alongside classroom teachers, including instruction from national literacy expert Lester Laminack.
Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., COE assistant dean for partnerships and outreach, helped to develop the project and oversees its implementation. She says, “We have seen positive results for our partner schools and our college students. The extended time for individual interaction between tutor and child has an immense impact.”
The tutoring initiative is a project of the Regional Education Collaborative (REC), a partnership between education, government and business in the Statesboro and Savannah area. Tutors were deployed in 2021 to combat the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on area schools. In 2022, the project expanded with funding from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. This year, the project expanded again with Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools funding additional training and the project team adding additional assessments.
Georgia Southern University addresses teacher shortage with innovative initiatives
In the face of a teacher shortage in Georgia, Georgia Southern University’s College of Education is emerging as a catalyst for innovation.
According to the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, 82 percent of schools in the state report a lack of educators, and 20 percent of teachers are considering leaving the profession within the next five years. Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., assistant dean for partnerships and outreach in Georgia Southern’s College of Education, says the need for fresh, practical solutions is urgent….. Read the full article.