Maybe the Last Paper for a Few Years?!

April 25, 2011April 25, 2011
by Victoria J

I managed to let an entire week go by without posting anything… Well, I have a really valid reason! I had to write a paper!!! And thankfully, this was the LAST paper that I needed to write for my graduate studies. I am so elated to say that in a few weeks, I will be graduating with my Masters in Education! To commemorate the pre-celebration, I have included a few images from my paper. By the way, you may notice that I branded or stylized my paper. It is hard for me to NOT try and make something look good! Especially when I am asking someone to read more than one page, I want to want to read the paper myself! But beyond that, presentation does go a long ways!

Excerpt from Executive Summary:
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal is unconstitutional, and therefore, a mandate was established that segregated schools needed to be integrated. However, almost 60 years later, we are experiencing some of the same levels of segregation, if not more, in our public, charter, and private schools. This problem has largely stemmed from the phenomenon called “white flight” in which white families move to the suburbs or placing their children in private schools. Meanwhile, low-income parents, who are predominantly minority, cannot afford to move and are left behind in the cities. The result of this migration has been a widened achievement gap among students.

Taking on Washington!

March 28, 2011
by Victoria J

Through my studies at Howard University, I was afforded the opportunity of meeting a young California man with focus and determination who has set his sights on education and the creation of policies surrounding that. Recently, he commissioned me to take photographs of him for his portfolio, so we chose the Capital area as our venue. Besides similar majors, we both shared a lack of understanding concerning the fact that it was snowing in DC at the end of the month of March (Sunday morning it snowed). Really, it’s supposed to be warm already! Anyway, the cold weather actually worked in our favor to (1) allow for less harsh sunlight, less shadows, etc, and (2) encourage people to stay home (meaning less people that I had to dodge in the photos). All in all, the images came out beautifully from this session, and I learned a DC secret in the process: The best time to shoot at the historic sites in DC is when a building is closed in the morning, like Sunday mornings.

I have included select images from this session below, and if you see something you like, please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you!

After Graduation, Advocation Should be My Occupation

March 22, 2011March 22, 2011
by Victoria J

Back in October, I photographed a future educator during a headshot session. To my delight, I was commissioned by him once again to do a portrait session for his birthday, and this time he chose to don a suit with a retro-1960’s cut. We previously set DC’s Union Station as our venue, but as I began to talk to him a little more and hear of his goals during the session, I realized that we needed to step outside of the venue. So we walked about some of the DC streets in this neighborhood, which was steps away from the US Capitol building. He shared with me his hopes to one day get his law degree and eventually advocate for the children – what a noble cause. I can actually think of many men of African or African-American decent that I have seen in education with the goal of moving towards policy creation or child advocacy, like this man, so I was not too surprised. Rather, I was refreshed by his drive, aspiration, community-focus, and all of those other good things that we do not often hear when speaking of men of African or African-American decent. I can go on and on about that, but I won’t. Instead, I will show a few of the stately images that I was able to capture during our session.

Before I show select images, here is my quick PSA: No matter what you find yourself doing, PLEASE make an effort to make a difference in the life of somebody else!

By the way, if you see something you like, don’t forget to leave a comment!

Will You Answer the Call?

November 10, 2010November 10, 2010
by Victoria J

Earlier today, I attended the TOWN HALL Meeting on the TEACH Initiative with panelists US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Howard School of Education’s Dr. Fenwick, singer John Legend, DCPS Interim-Chancellor Kaya Henderson, and distinguished DCPS High School Teacher Ms. Angela Benjamin. This event aimed to inspire, motivate, and encourage more of the best and the brightest minorities to enter the teaching field as currently 91% of the teaching force is of Caucasian decent. When I reflect on my own educational experience, I remember that it was only in my 6th grade English class that I ever had an African-American teacher (not including my graduate studies at Howard, which is a historically black university). Secretary Duncan wants to ensure that the “Teacher workforce reflects the demographics of our students.” This will be a task since only 3.5% of the nation’s teachers and black and Latino males. I think that events like this will in fact recruit more college-educated individuals into the education field, if by no other means than by letting our “best and brightest” know that it’s ok and extremely beneficial for our communities for them to work in the classroom.

To drive this initiative, there are several financial incentives that the goverment is providing. These include a $4,000 per year TEACH Grant towards undergraduate and graduate studies in exchange for a commitment to teach for 4 years in an 8-year period in a high needs field in a low-income school. This may sound like a lot of stipulations, but it can provide up to $16,000 towards a person’s education. Also, there is a program that promises complete loan forgiveness after 10 years of teaching. School systems like DCPS in the Washington, DC boast that first-year teachers can make up to $73,000 with salary and bonuses, and I will admit that this exceeded my expectations. Ultimately, school systems want to “celebrate and reward highly effective teachers,” according to Interim-Chancellor Henderson because as John Legend put it, “An effective teacher is the single most important factor in improving student performance.”

One of the biggest things that I took from this town hall meeting was that students (our children) need:

Adults that have the highest expectations of them
People who believe that no matter where they have come from, they can achieve

Students (our children) desire:

Teachers that inspire them
Teachers that know what they are doing
Teachers that come out of the textbook sometimes

But at the end of the day, “The most important thing that our best people can do is to TEACH,” according to Chancellor Henderson.

I have included some images from this event below. For the record, I found out about this event at the last minute, so I did not have my trusty Nikon with me, and my cell phone had to work. In this post, I am less concerned with quality of the picture as I am with the effectiveness and urgency of the message!

By the way, I was quoted in a post in response to this event, feel free to check it out on ESSENCE.

It’s Just Politics (Part 2)

August 16, 2010
by Victoria J

A recent road trip brought my mom and I to Kershaw, South Carolina. Now this was only my second time stopping in the state of South Carolina, but the first time I went, I only stopped by for Easter dinner. What both of these trips had in common was the fact that people in the South can COOK! If you haven’t guessed by now, I do enjoy food, and somebody’s home-cooking is my absolute favorite! Anyway, this post is not about food, but rather about the political process. In my last post, I documented the election party that my friend had during her primary election campaign. Well, in South Carolina, we went with friends to a different kind of election party. Mr. Sammie Tucker, Jr. recently won the primary election in the Kershaw County Sheriff race, so he threw a party to thank all of the people that voted for him. This party had all of the makings of a day to remember from the delectable chocolate brownies to the finger-licking bar-b-q chicken to the oh-so-moist pound cake to fresh watermelon – and I’m just talking about the food. But the party also had crowd-pleasers, like the electric slide, the cha-cha slide, a live band playing the oldies but goodies, folks on the dance floor, and much more. I was so glad that we were able to be a part of this celebration! See images below.

If you don’t know by now, I really like photographing food. This picture was an ode to down-south cooking! Y’all, the bar-b-q chicken was so finger-licking good that I spent some time cleaning that bone. This is as good as it got because I was trying to look dignified by eating the chicken with the plastic fork… but I had been in the comforts of my own home, I don’t think you would have seen anything left on that bone!

What’s a dance floor without an electric slide… I guess it depends on who’s throwing the party!

These ladies were working the registration table, but they had some choreographed moves going on as they played The Temptations!

I guess this is what politicians need to be able to do really well – laugh! It makes them look very human!

With his pants hiked up!

Friends from way back…

Talking Politics!

A Girl’s Best Friend… and Truly a Show-Stopper (The Engagement Ring)!

It’s Just Politics (Part 1)

August 16, 2010August 16, 2010
by Victoria J

Back in high school, I was never into politics or student government. I knew there was value in voting (and as soon as I was of age, I did), but I was never that concerned with running. Well, at the end of my freshman year in college, a very ambitious classmate of mine recommended that I run for the office of Sophomore Class Senator as there was a vacancy. She let me know that I would not have too much competition and that if elected, I’d be working with her, as she was running for Sophomore Class President. Well I ran, and I won! Of course, she did too! We continued to work together through the end of our Senior year of college when she was the Student Body President, and I was the Senior Class President.

As long as I’ve known Ms. Dar’shun N. Kendrick, she has had her eyes set on government, politics, and law. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, she went on to law school at UGA, and just this year, she started her own law practice, Kendrick Law Practice, LLC. She wants to eventually be the US President, so earlier this summer, she announced that she was running for GA State House of Representative in District 94. Immediately, she went into full-campaign mode, hiring seasoned campaign managers and consultants, attending events, putting up a website, raising money, printing mailing pieces, and soliciting friends and volunteers to help with the rest of the “get-elected” process. Her primary election was on July 20, 2010, and on that day, she threw a party to watch the results come in with family, friends, and volunteers. She ended up with the most votes of all 4 candidates, but there was still a need for run-off election, which she won 3 weeks later! I am so proud of Ms. Dar’shun Kendrick, and I wish her nothing but success in the November election!

Below, I have included images from the first election party… I am looking forward to the MANY MANY more that Ms. Kendrick will be a part of!