Q’Derrin: My Experience at CIS' 2022 DEI Summit
Hi! My name is Q’Derrin Crawford. I'm an alumnus of Communities In Schools® (CIS®) of Memphis and currently a student at Tennessee State University.
In November 2022, the CIS National Office invited alumni from across the country to attend their annual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Summit, and I was able to attend! I want to thank CIS for giving me the opportunity to experience something of this great magnitude. From my first time at an airport to my first flight, being outside of Tennessee, and seeing what a fantastic organization this is with fellow alumni and staff from across the country!
This experience opened up my eyes in so many ways, one being that I wasn’t as aware of the challenges we are facing here in today’s society with opportunities not being equal for all and the ones we are fighting daily within our school systems for education equity. I took great notes on how we can take action towards bettering our schools!
The 30-minute crash courses were phenomenal as well; in particular, I really enjoyed the session about identifying invisible disabilities hosted by Ms. Tamiko Garrett. Man, was that an awesome session! I felt seen, being that I, myself, deal with an invisible disability, and Ms. Garrett provided very detailed information and resources to help with this matter!
Overall, the DEI Summit was wonderful! I got to meet some great people, made new friends, try new foods, and I even had the chance to meet CIS founder, Bill Milliken!! Who can say that these days? I want to thank CIS again for everything and I hope we can continue to work towards bettering our schools, community, and the world itself!
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