The 2022 All African Diaspora Education Summit was held in Cape Coast September 19-24, and provided opportunities to learn about African history and culture.<\/p>\n
SAN MARCOS \u2014 Two faculty members and an administrator from Palomar College who traveled to Ghana in September to participate in the 2022 All African Diaspora Education Summit returned with a renewed vision of student success.<\/p>\n
The Summit was held at the University of Cape Coast from September 19-24 and included a trip to the historic Cape Coast Castle and Dungeons, where slaves were once held before being loaded on ships bound for the Americas. Palomar\u2019s delegation attended the Summit alongside representatives from every community college district in San Diego County\u2014Grossmont-Cuyamaca, MiraCosta, San Diego, and Southwestern.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in Ghana was very eye-opening and impactful for me, as a black woman\u2014being surrounded and immersed in the culture, being able to discuss with fellow professionals, most of whom were of the African Diaspora, to discuss ways of serving black students,\u201d said Brikia Cephus, a Professor of Biology at Palomar. \u201cIt was so refreshing and amazing, because we don\u2019t usually get that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carmelino Cruz, Palomar\u2019s Acting Chief Diversity Officer, said the experience has influenced his thinking about topics like curriculum, shared governance, and educational pedagogy.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the workshops and discussions we had were about how to make sure the different things we do are African-centered,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cIt was definitely an intense trip, in several ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I took away from it was a deeper understanding of how and why to create awareness in the work we do, and being intentional about the sources and materials we use in the classroom, the research and ideas we implement,\u201d Cruz added. \u201cAre they coming from people who represent these groups? Or are they coming from an outsider, who\u2019s bringing research but not from within the community?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercedes Tiggs, a member of Palomar\u2019s Counseling faculty, said that in addition to a variety of resources to implement as an educator, she came back to the U.S. with a deeper sense of pride in her ethnic heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were welcomed with open arms, and every time we were greeted, it was like, \u2018Welcome home, sister,\u2019 instead of being the foreigners who stood out,\u201d Tiggs recalled. \u201cIt was like home.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cEverything is rich there\u2014the history is rich, the culture is rich. We are taking back those things\u2014the things we don\u2019t talk about in history books or in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiggs said she was especially energized by conference speaker Dr. Chike Akua, author of \u201cHonoring Our Ancestral Obligations: 7 Steps to Black Student Success.\u201d<\/p>\n
With educators from around the world in attendance, the conference was aimed at fostering African-centered education and dispelling common myths of African culture as primitive.<\/p>\n
Cephus said in the classroom and in the community, there is a need to \u201cjust be there, listening, being an extra motivation\u201d for students who are historically under-represented and under-supported.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur black students need us\u2014the data supports this,\u201d she said. \u201cIn biology, specifically, representation matters, so if I can just continue to be a friendly face to my students, and continue to motivate them to pursue their career goals in medicine or STEM-related fields, where we are under-represented, then I\u2019ve done a large part of my job beyond just teaching content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cephus recalled her own experience at Lincoln High School in San Diego, where she spent eight weeks working as an \u201cextern\u201d at Sharp Memorial Hospital through the school\u2019s Metaversity program: \u201cMy experience as a student was very centered around motivating black students to be whoever we wanted to be. That was pivotal\u2014it elevated my dreams and showed me they could be reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"