Coming to the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, I knew that I would be receiving a high quality educational experience with some of the most brilliant faculty in the business. This is what led me to Penn; knowing I would have an opportunity to work with Marybeth Gasman, Matt Harley, and Laura Perna solidified my decision when applying to Higher Education graduate-level...
Dexter Evans
Higher Education, M.S.Ed.
Legal Studies, B.S. Paul Quinn CollegeI’m Dexter D. Evans and I hail from Muskegon Heights, Michigan (Lived in Dallas, TX for the last 10 years). I’m best known for my role as the chief organizer of the "WE ARE NOT TRASH" movement. In 2011, the city of Dallas voted to expand a landfill near Paul Quinn College into the largest garbage dump in the southwestern region of the U.S. Without hesitation, I organized neighbors leading demonstrations, attending city council meetings, and speaking directly to city officials. My leadership helped to sway a permanent injunction against the city of Dallas’s proposed trash ordinance. After sprouting national attention and notable praise, I became a 2012 finalist for the HBCU Male Student of the Year and was awarded the Student of the Year honor at PQC. In addition, Paul Quinn's Student Government Association was named the 2012 HBCU SGA of the Year, where I also served as president. I am a Lipman Family Prize Fellow through The Wharton School’s McNulty Leadership Program and a representative for Penn GSE Student Government. My acceptance to Penn makes me the first PQC alumnus to attend an Ivy League institution.
Posts by Dexter Evans
Friday, December 8, 2017
Today, I took a trip to the Smithsonian National African-American Museum of History and Culture. This trip, sponsored by the Penn GSE Student Affairs and the School of Arts and Sciences Student Government, may have been the highlight of my semester. Even considering my evenly spread course schedule, admission to student organizations and fellowships, and overall immersion in the overwhelming...
Saturday, November 11, 2017
After graduating from my alma mater, Paul Quinn College, attending a selective elite institution was always in the plan. Admission to graduate school was something I knew I would need, considering my life goals and career trajectory, mainly because of the narrowed focus and collaborative nature professional school provides for its students. This fine-tooth comb was what I desired so that I...
Thursday, September 28, 2017
As a young child, I often in involved myself in “the most of things” when it came to extra and co-curricular activities. The most of things--meaning fully-engaged and spirited in whatever the mission was for me in and out of school. I can reflect onholding my younger sisters hand while walking into the local YMCA to take summer swimming classes; as nervous as she was, I was too. Eventually, we...
Friday, September 8, 2017
July 3, 2017. The day I moved to Mantua, a small neighborhood on the northern side of Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. I came to visit Penn GSE during the Admissions Open House in March of 2017, so I was slightly familiar with University City, but what I didn’t realize was when I signed on to move into my apartment, that I would be relocating to one of the most under-...