DC Winter Seminar: Meet Ebony Martin

Hi Everyone,

My name is Ebony Martin and I am a senior at W&M. It is officially day two of the 2017 DC Winter Seminar and I am proud to be a part of the Urban Education: Policy, Practices, and Leadership course taught by Professor Stelljes. I can’t even really put into words how much fun I have had in the last day and a half but I’m going to certainly try my best to give you guys some wonderful insight into this program.

But first, I would like to give a little insight into who I am so you know who you’re hearing from. I am a first generation college student from a single parent home in a small town called Martinsville, Virginia. I work as a research fellow for the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE) and I also just joined the Office of First Year Experience in Undergraduate Belonging and Peer Mentorship. I am an Africana studies major and I love all things teaching. My future career goals would involve a mix of being a child advocacy lawyer to working as a high school teacher to being a college professor. If I can find a way to combine all of those things I shall let you guys know. Lol

I guess the most important question that I would like to answer for this post would be, “why did I choose to be a part of this seminar?” I have been involved with youth throughout my lifetime as a 4-H camp counselor, a Girl Scout with volunteer opportunities, local clubs in my community that are geared towards keeping kids on the right path and I have never felt more at home than in the presence of youth. I love the impact that I can have on young people, but honestly I love to learn from them. I love to know what they think about the world that they live in and what they want to see change. I love to hear what they are passionate about, and what they hate, and what’s the new trend. It’s amazing the type of open minds that young people have and I don’t want to lose that feeling of being alive that I feel from them. The best way that I know how to stay in that space is to be that teacher that they look up to, to be the person that they want to be when they grow up. I remember the way that I used to talk about my one government teacher Mrs. Spivey (yes, I had to call her out because she is amazing) or my math teacher Mrs. Wilson and how I wanted to be there in class everyday and I wanted to learn. I wanted so desperately to want to compel people to education that way, to make them aspire for more than just the textbook.

The power that a teacher has sometimes goes unnoticed, the very way that they can manipulate a student into being the exact great thing that they thought they could never be is such a service to this country and I want to be a part of that. Okay, so I feel like I’ve given a lot in this one post, but tomorrow I shall update you guys on what’s been going on in the seminar so far.

‘Til then,
Ebony Martin ’17