Greetings! I am Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans and I have been teaching a Mentoring 'At-Risk' Youth class for the past ten years. I am now interested in providing a space where young adults in high school and college can share thoughts about their experiences, challenges, and goals relating to learning in general and higher education in particular.

When I started college in 1994, at the age of 25, I was a first generation college student. (Email me for a copy of my college admissions essay.) I knew who I was, but I had trouble expressing myself with confidence. Thanks to my 8th grade dance teacher, Pam Copley, I had a clear sense of self, but I did not have the skills to maximize that self-knowledge in order to produce a real feeling of self-ownership and ability to (reasonably) control my surroundings. But besides needing to feel more empowered, I was just downright curious, so I started college--scared but determined to get the tools that I needed to find and claim my VOICE.

It helped that in my graduate courses in African American Studies and Women's Studies I learned to think critically about where I'm from, why I love school so much, who I was trying to become, what alternative knowledges needed to be produced, and what I want to do in this world. I have tried to pass on to my students what has been so carefully offered to me. After listening to my students and youth in my community partnerships talk about their dreams, I thought it might be nice to create an online community so folks can share their voices with like-minded students who are passionate about claiming their own voice and being ACTIVE in their quest for higher education--especially those who feel isolated because no one else around them is talking about college in a productive or practical way. Too many people thought I was "special" or "strange" because even though I was pretty social and grew up with an artistic side, I always had a book in my hand and enjoyed going to class.

Given the overwhelming expense of college (and the crushing burden of my school loans), I sometimes wonder why I took this route at all. But every time I share the exciting stories of history with my students, I know that the university is truly my home. I have found that knowledge of history can definitely help with knowledge of self:

• Black Men in the Ivory Tower Video (to BlackStar, KNOWLEDGE OF SELF-DETERMINATION)
• Black Women in the Ivory Tower Video (to Jill Scott, LONG WALK)

My research focus is on Black women's intellectual history. When I was a teenager, I did not know there was such a thing as a long history of educated Black women. When I started college and found out that Black people graduated from college decades before the Civil War, that blew my mind. Now, I teach and learn about stories of those scholars from diverse communities who have faced similar challenges that I had to overcome--like lack of information, lack of resources, and beginning college with a lack of grounded or competitive academic skills. It is especially exciting to read about historic students who enJOYed the collegiate learning process because school has truly been a gift that I love and appreciate.

Alternative voices are need in the telling of personal, social, institutional, national, and international stories and many of my students over the years have affirmed that belief. Like Charles Green writes in Manufacturing Powerlessness, children and young adults need structural help so they have more productive options than rape in California, murder in Chicago, or pillage in Florida. EMPOWERMENT, VOICE, & INSPIRATION are much better alternatives.

Though I write in a critical community of scholars, students and young adults are now my primary audience. Yet, I have a heartfelt commitment to keep challenging myself and challenging others in my areas of interest to acknowledge alternative definitions than the ones we are used to hearing. This is especially important in training graduate students, for they are the ones who will be producing the next generation of knowledge. Here is one example of how I think voice can be important in shaping how and what people learn about data, method, and interpretation: *Evans Response to H-SHGAPE review.

HISTORY IS INSPIRING. I am applying what I have learned to instruct others. This is called a 'Functional History of Education." I didn't grow up in an inner city 'ghetto,' but I still had recurring experiences that almost crushed my dreams of teaching, learning, dancing, laughing, working and growing. When I was growing up, I didn't know what a PhD was and never met anyone who had one. I want those who come after me to know that they can be whatever they want...even something they've never heard of before like a college professor.

THE NIA PROJECT...

I held a local summit at Brown University in 2003 when I worked as the Associate Director for Youth Education Programs at the Swearer Center. Now, I work in Gainesville, Florida summit initiatives, particularly with those young adults labeled "at-risk." As a result of this digital mentoring project, I hope to host a national gathering for ambitious high school and college students to engage in discussions with top faculty and administrators (maybe summer 2012).

I am working on a local level for now, but am applying for funding to grow the project and hope to have a national summit where students with the most creative entries will be invited to meet with leading faculty and administrators.

As Septima Clark said, "social justice is a not a matter of money, but a matter of will." This peer mentoring site is a place to connect folks who want to dream positive dreams about their futures and who want to (pro)claim their identity in a collective project of creative and purposeful intellectual growth. Together, we can contribute to an ongoing dialogue about preparedness, access, diversity, creativity, and purpose in higher education.

Though I was an "at-risk" youth, I have gained much from historical scholars who laid the groundwork for my success and mentors who took time to show me how to succeed in higher education. History and academic mentoring are at the center of my NIA Statement. What will be the central ideas that power your statement?

SUBMIT YOUR 3-D NIA STATEMENT

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www.professorevans.com