“As a future elementary teacher, I feel as though I have a comprehensive understanding of how to teach bottom-up American history to my students with special consideration of how the voices so often left out of the narrative don’t just fill in the gaps but actually tell a much more comprehensive and compelling story altogether.”
As an Elementary Education Major, Allison has chosen to pursue a minor in African/African Diaspora Studies due to the importance that she feels for a deep understanding of historical inequities within K-12 education; something that is currently lacking. Within the African Studies Program, Allison appreciates the passion that her professors have for the content that they are teaching, and says “It’s empowering to learn a history integral to this country’s origin but that has been intentionally expunged from the history textbooks”. She points to her favorite Professor within the program, Kate Aguilar, as someone who has been a role model to her and helped her understand “what it means to be a white woman teaching Black history”. In Professor Aguilar’s African American History class, Allison has learned about American History in conversation with the African Diaspora, creating an understanding which she feels will make her a much better teacher in the future. Allison also appreciates the interdisciplinary nature of the African/African Diaspora Studies Program, which allows for the content to be learned through various different lenses and perspectives. Allison has been able to pursue an African Studies Minor in conjunction with her History Minor, giving her an integrated perspective of the two fields combined. She combined these two interests in her History Seminar research project, in which she wrote a historiography on the African Diaspora in Asia. She appreciated this opportunity to be able to apply content in department to another. As a future educator, Allison’s experience within the African/African Diaspora Studies Program has given her resources to pursue her goal of “creating equity within the classroom so that my students feel empowered to go out and be good people who are capable of changing this world for the better”. Outside of the classroom, Allison is also involved on campus as the Lead Coordinator of Big Partner Little Partner, as well as other volunteer opportunities in the community.