A transformational challenge

I arrived at Penn GSE with a specific plan. I wanted to study the factors that put black American males at risk, or helped protect them, and I wanted to use that knowledge to create interventions in health and educational settings.

But working closely with Dr. Howard Stevenson and other Penn GSE faculty who have pioneered research into racial literacy forced me to broaden my thinking. As I learned more about human development, I had to reconsider the universal factors that link all humans that impact our ability to be resilient. In the end, I wound up with a much more refined and robust framework to study Black men that I am still using in my research.

While at Penn GSE, I received university-wide recognition for teaching by a graduate student. My teaching, then and now, benefitted from the open mind my professors brought into the classroom. These world-class experts let me argue, they let me debate, they let me look into the literature and find different perspectives. That prepared me to go into the classroom and say, “you all have something to contribute beyond what I have to offer.”

If you are ready to challenge yourself, your preconceived notions, and the field, then Penn GSE is the place for you. There are so many varying perspectives at Penn GSE, you will always be in a state of intellectual discomfort that will push your development. If you want to have classmates, colleagues, and faculty members who are going to challenge you and allow space for you to challenge them, if you are ready to do deep thinking and reflection, there is no place that is better.