Professional Development

Team Professional Development at PoCC

Members of the Allen-Stevenson community traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to attend the 35th Annual NAIS People of Color Conference (PoCC), the first in-person PoCC since 2019! With 7,800 adults and students from independent schools participating, attendance for the conference was at a record high. Because team professional development is so valuable, Allen-Stevenson sent eight representatives from the school: Lower Division Teacher Librarian Maria Paz Alegre, 4th Grade Head Teacher and Co-Director: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Lorenzo Bellard, 5th Grade Homeroom Teacher Maurice Hicks Jr., Admissions Coordinator Darlene Mays, Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher Jennifer Phillips, Communications Manager Candace Silva, General Manager of Performance Spaces and Art/Woodshop Assistant Jaison Spain, and Community Life +Diversity Chair and Science Faculty Jennifer VermontDavis.

For four days, educators and administrators from all over the U.S. and beyond gathered for professional learning, community building, and personal empowerment and restoration. While there, members of the A-S community engaged in a number of workshops and activities that focused on topics relating to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in independent schools, which will help inform planning at A-S in the future. Inspiring speakers included social scientist, author and activist J. Luke Wood, social entrepreneur, civil rights activist, and the CEO and founder of Rise Amanda Ngyuen, and acclaimed poet, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni.

Maria Paz Alegre, one of the official planners and presenters for the AAPI Affinity Group, hosted her first solo presentation in which she shared the impact of AllenStevenson’s Book-A-Day program. Reflecting on the event she says, “It was such an honor to present at a national conference for educators representing The AllenStevenson School. I am so proud of our incredible Book-A-Day program and parents can’t stop raving about it. Over 60 educators were in attendance at my presentation and it is clear that they cannot wait to bring Book-A-Day to their schools as well.” Maria Paz Alegre presenting

A-S PoCC Representatives: Front Row (L-R): Maurice Hicks Jr., Jennifer Phillips, Lorenzo Bellard, Jaison Spain Back Row (L-R): Darlene Mays, Jennifer VermontDavis, Candace Silva