Vol. 19, No. 2 - Winter 2003

Building common ground

Mario Calhoun missed his flight. As a result, when he finally arrived from his home in Detroit to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, he had long since missed his ride. He didn’t know a soul and had only one local contact: Bill Wilson, then-coordinator of the college’s Common Ground Consortium program.

Wilson came to pick him up without hesitation. “You do what’s needed,” Wilson says. “I told students all the time to think of me as part of their extended family. As soon as I got Mario’s call I was on my way.”

It’s just one small but important example of how the college works to support—in all ways possible—its students in Common Ground Consortium (CGC).

Calhoun came here as a student in CGC, a college program that supports graduate-level study in education for students with undergraduate degrees from participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As an undergraduate at Grambling University in Louisiana, Calhoun had been a tutor, shaping his desire to be a teacher.

“I want to help people reach their dreams and goals,” Calhoun says. He sees teaching as the way to do so and CGC as an opportunity for him to prepare to be a teacher. The program eliminates barriers preventing many students from pursuing advanced degrees. “I would never have come here if it weren’t for CGC,” Calhoun says.

Just over nine percent of the college’s students are students of color and there continues to be a shortage of teachers of color in the workforce. CGC and the college’s other programs are designed to increase the number of teachers of color and break an insidious cycle: Students of color who don’t see teachers of color are less likely to become teachers themselves.

“Diverse teachers and policymakers enhance the educational experience for all students,” says Mary Bents, who plays an active role in the college’s diversity programs as assistant dean and director of the college’s Student & Professional Services. “The changing demographic landscape in Minnesota and the United States illustrates the increasing need for multicultural educators.”

Bill Wilson agrees. “We must do whatever we can to increase the number of teachers of color in our institutions. Children learn from the people around them, they’re great imitators. It is unconscionable for educational institutions not to have persons of color on their staffs.”

The college is working to recruit and prepare inspirational, quality educators from diverse backgrounds through its key diversity programs: CGC; the Multicultural Teacher Development Project (MTDP), which recruits and helps to retain students of color for teacher development programs; and the Homegrown Teacher Partnership Project (HTPP), initially funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to recruit and prepare students of color as teachers.

Karen Charles (pictured right), former director of arts programs at the Arts High School, Perpich Center for Arts Education, was named coordinator of all of the college’s student diversity programs in May 2002. She says her own experience prompted her to take the job. “Minnesota is not as diverse as other parts of the country, so we have some challenges,” says Charles. “I’m from Atlanta, which is a little more diverse than Minnesota. My kids have not seen a teacher of color since they’ve been here. My ultimate goal is to get more teachers of color into the classrooms.”

The college’s diversity programs provide financial support, a sense of community, and tools to negotiate the University where participants will often find themselves the lone student of color in a classroom or social group.

Kyshun Webster, a CGC student working on a Ph.D. in community education, lived in public housing for seven years in New Orleans. At the age of 13 he started tutoring kids in his garage. Using what Charles calls his “entrepreneurial knack,” Webster, after his junior year of college, started Home for Homework, a community-based education initiative.

He has a B.A. in art education from Xavier University, Louisiana, and has received numerous awards, including being named by USA Today as one of the nation’s 60 “best and brightest college students for academic and philanthropic endeavors.” He holds a master’s in urban studies from the University of New Orleans, and was a research fellow at Notre Dame University.

“I had deviated from the path that others in my community were doomed to,” Webster says. “I feel like I have a responsibility to go back and keep a hand in the opportunities that other kids receive, helping to bridge resources between schools, communities, and universities to support learning.”

Because Webster is interested in community-based education, the program in the Department of Work, Community, and Family Education was a natural fit. CGC provided the deciding incentive to make the move north.

“Given the current state of education, communities have to take responsibility in educating their own,” Webster says. “I see education as being broader than K–12 institutionalized learning. I see learning happening in out-of-school-time programs. I see families becoming more cognizant of their roles in giving kids a healthy start.”

Another outstanding student involved in a college diversity program is Danny Khotsombath (pictured left) who plans to teach Spanish. A senior finishing an undergraduate degree in Spanish studies, Khotsombath is mentoring a first-year student at the U through the college’s HTPP program.

He also works with the Lao PTA on afterschool programs, is president of the Lao Student Association, sits on the board of the Asian-American Student Union (ASU), and is ASU’s Twin Cities Asian representative for a consortium of local colleges. Khotsombath volunteers at Robbinsdale Cooper High School, where he graduated, for the college’s Exploring Teaching course, and he has applied to the college’s initial teacher licensure program for next fall.

Khotsombath grew up bilingual, speaking both English and Lao, and says “language is one of my passions.” He remembers looking up to a Lao person working as a student advocate in his high school. “When I become a teacher, I want to be a student advocate,” Khotsombath says. “I would meet with diverse groups of students and talk about issues—get the perspectives of the students, see how their day is going.”

HTPP gives him a chance to connect and be a mentor to other students on the same path he took and “show them the short cuts. I put myself in their shoes. As a freshman, I would have liked to have had someone to talk to who’s been through it, who can make you feel comfortable about the environment.”

Nils Heymann (pictured right) brings yet another set of experiences to the college’s diversity programs. He came to the U.S. as a refugee from El Salvador at the age of 13. After receiving a B.A. from the University in studio arts in 1992, he left the U.S. for about nine years. “I was a Buddhist monk, I did all sorts of things,” Heymann says. He came back to earn an M.Ed. in art education, drawn in by the MTDP scholarship.

The MTDP group meetings provided an opportunity for Heymann to talk with other multicultural students. “It’s important just hearing other students’ perspectives. It was nice to have another reference point,” Heymann says.

The support network helps students of color with the challenges they face in a primarily white institution, he says. “There was a feeling of being a token. I would often be the only student of color. It was also interesting being a male in the female-dominated teaching field. If this program didn’t exist, I don’t think I would have come to the U. It’s like a statement from the college, saying ‘You are welcome here.’ And also putting some money behind the words, saying ‘We support teachers of color.’”

The college’s support for teachers of color, Heymann says, is important because “teachers of color bring in a richness. But there are so many challenges that you have to overcome to make it into higher education and teaching.” Heymann is now the first art teacher at Park Spanish Immersion School, St. Louis Park, Minn.

"The people with the passion, the desire, and the expertise need to get in there—you impact more students being in the system, not outside."

Sue Vang, a first-year MTDP student pursuing an M.Ed. in elementary education in science, says, “For me as a Hmong student, it’s hard to be a student here. You have to meet so many requirements for your family and for school. I’m a mother, too, and I’m married to a husband whose family expects a lot.”

MTDP’s social events are a chance for her to unwind and share concerns with a group of peers. “It releases my stress. Without programs like this one I wouldn’t make it through. [Through MTDP] there are a lot of resources and advisers available.” Vang especially appreciates the experience of having professional panels of teachers speak to MTDP students and answer their questions about teaching.

“When I was in tenth grade, my math teacher—Mr. Lou Vang at Johnson High School in St. Paul—inspired me to become a teacher,” Vang says. “When he was an Asian student, there weren’t a lot of Asian teachers around to be role models so he decided to be a teacher. I thought that was a good idea. It’s important to have someone you can look up to in your own culture and background, so you know you’re not alone. To see that they made it, you know you can do it also.”

Josette Franklin (pictured left) (M.A., ’96, secondary education), who received an undergraduate degree from Wiley College, Marshall, Tex., says CGC “was an opportunity to come from a small school to a big university but to experience it from within a small community. They made it so easy to be a student here. If it weren’t for Common Ground, I probably wouldn’t have stayed at the U.”

Although she did not find her studies difficult, Franklin does not recall her time here with great fondness, but “the thing that kept me on stable ground and feeling good about being in Minnesota was Common Ground.”

Franklin decided to stay in Minnesota after graduation. As an assistant principal at suburban Champlin Park High School, she advises students currently in the CGC program to “branch outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Give some of our skills and expertise to those other districts. I’m the only administrator of color in my district. A lot of people don’t want to have to come out and trailblaze and educate people on issues of diversity, but it has to be done,” Franklin says.

Shantia Kerr (pictured right), a CGC M.Ed. student in instructional systems and technology, looks forward to what she can achieve as a teacher. “Life is just a process of learning. If you want to be a leader in your field you need to continue to educate yourself. I think it’s important that students see teachers and role models who look like them.”

“As a teacher, I want to have a positive influence—so many children have negative influences. I want to find a way to be a positive force in their lives,” says Tacardra Rountree (pictured below), a CGC student in elementary education. “Just knowing that someone is depending on me to prepare them academically and socially for the world is exciting.”

Karen Charles, the new coordinator of multicultural programs and outreach, says support for students is the heart of the program. “I love meeting students—talking about their goals and dreams and aspirations, and finding ways to help them meet those goals,” she says.

Charles travels regularly to HBCUs to give presentations and recruit students. She reminds them of application deadlines and is available to provide answers to their specific questions at any time throughout the year. Josette Franklin remembers the visit from CGC’s first director, Vanessa McKendall, who persuaded her to choose the U over other schools.

“I think we tend to discount the value of the role model for students,” Charles says. “For students to see a teacher like them makes a difference. We need to appreciate the gift of a good teacher—someone who stretches students’ tolerance and encourages them as a role model. The people with the passion, the desire, and the expertise need to get in there—you impact more students being in the system, not outside.”

Charles has a tough charge in front of her—securing financial support and growing the programs in tough economic times, recruiting students, connecting locally to build professional connections and opportunities for students. “What makes me the most excited is knowing that I am—even in a tiny way—contributing to the diverse face of education,” she says.

Wilson stresses the importance of increasing the number of persons of color in education: “At the end of the day, I strongly feel that these changes need to take place in the field of education—if not here, then where? If not now, when?”

Mario Calhoun (pictured right) knows the time is now. He is very thoughtful about the difference he can make as a teacher, serving as a role model, and encouraging kids to believe they can succeed. “I want to show people that no matter what your situation, you can overcome. With tenacity, roses can grow from concrete,” he says.

Like so many students in the college’s diversity programs, Calhoun’s aim is clear: Give to the community. Be an inspiration, a role model, and a resource. Rise above anything that gets you down. Build a better future. Become the teacher of your dreams.

—Rebecca Noran