DEI DECISIONS

Latonya Davis hopes to build relationships

SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry

A new face has been added to the Offce of Diversity and Inclusion. Latonya Davis started as coordinator of diversity and inclusion April 17.

Joining Northwest in 2020 as an academic adviser for the School of Education and then working as a recruitment coordinator for Northwest admissions, she found herself back at Northwest.

She obtained a bachelor’s degree in K-12 physical education, health education and coaching in 2003 and master’s degree in physical education and athletic administration from Northwest in 2004, but that was never part of her original plan.

Davis said her history teacher and cheerleading coach motivated her to go to college, despite the history of family members going right into the workforce after high school. After meeting with a representative from Northwest, she decided to give college a try.

“(I was the) frst generation in my entire family to go to college, and so I didn’t really know what to do,” Davis said. “I just knew I wanted to go and to go to college because I didn’t like where we were living in the city. … And so I came here not knowing anybody and got an amazing education, had amazing professors, some I still keep in touch with today that are still here.”

After graduating from Northwest in 2004, she taught elementary physical education in St. Louis for 15 years. During that time, she organized events for underrepresented families in the Desegregation program, which she was once a part of.

The Desegregation program started in 1983 to increase racial integration in metropolitan area public schools and allows for Black students to attend participating schools in St. Louis County.