Years ago, Marvis Kilgore had taken the opportunity of a lifetime when he worked as one of the leading founders of the Community College of Qatar. However, when witnessing the civic unrest across the country in the early days of the pandemic, he felt that his contributions were needed back in America.
“Watching everything that was happening stateside, I felt as if I were an innocent bystander, and I knew that I wanted to come home,” he said.
Killgore wanted to make an impact by continuing his work in education but couldn’t find a role that stood out to him. That was until he saw an opportunity present itself in Minnesota.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that I would trade the desert for frozen tundra,” he laughed.
When he saw a job posting at Normandale Community College hiring for the Sirtify Program Director, he knew it was the opportunity for him.
The Sirtify program, dreamt up by the college’s current president Joyce C. Ester, aims to recruit and support Black, African American, and African men into elementary and secondary education pathways.
According to Killgore, just 1% of all teachers in the state of Minnesota identify as Black, with a fraction of that percentage being Black men. He also stated that Black students are less likely to get suspended from school, have behavioral issues, and are more likely to go to college if they have a Black teacher by the fourth grade.
The program began four years ago with just three students and it currently has 20 students aiming to become teachers.
“Our program is not just the flavor of the month,” Kilgore stated, emphasizing the program’s commitment to students. “We’ve sent two students out already that have transferred to local institutions.”
To become a participant in the program, Normandale students must identify themselves as a Black man and seek a degree in elementary education, special education, or secondary education. Those pursuing a career as a secondary school teacher must major in a content area that they wish to teach, such as math or history.
Sirtify has opened their recruitment window for the fall semester and has up to 30 spaces for new students. Since its inception, the program has doubled in size with its cohort and aims to have 40 students in the next year.
Sirtify offers its students a financial package that covers their tuition, textbooks, and fees up to $10,000. They also receive a yearly $3,500 stipend. Much of their funding comes from donors, both private individuals and corporate entities.
Normandale students Jordon Jackson, Rayn Nelson, Yvon Abellard are part of the current cohort of Sirtify participants. They each found different paths to becoming teachers but view the program as a crucial part of their journey toward a career in education.
Jackson heard about the program through Kilgore, his uncle, but has always wanted to be a teacher. Raised in Holly Springs, Miss., Jackson came from a family made up of teachers. He long held the idea that being a teacher was for him and now he had the roadmap for his career.
Nelson found out about the program through a high school counselor after discussing different career path options.
“I was struggling to figure out what I wanted to do after high school,” he said. “I had mentioned that growing up I was always geared towards tutoring them things related to math.”
Nelson’s counselor suggested that he consider a career as a teacher, which offered him ample downtime and summers off to pursue other interests. He also stated that his experience going to schools that lacked Black teachers also made him consider becoming an educator and giving students someone to connect with in the classroom.
Abellard’s mother and aunt, who both work as educators, referred him to the Sirtify program. Having worked with youth in community centers in the past, he had developed a skill set that helped him work well with a wide range of age groups, lending him to believe that education may be the path for him.
Normandale requires all of its education majors to spend 25 hours of classroom observation before graduating. Kilgore also shared that many of the Sirtify participants have a background working in education before coming to Normandale while others join the program during a pivot in their professional career.
“60% of students in our program are actually paraprofessionals working in schools now,” he said. “Many of them may have had different careers. This program definitely offered another pathway to become a licensed certified teacher.”
Cultural competency is not only a major factor in the program for students, but Normandale’s instructors in education courses have also gone through training to make their content more diverse and reflective of the students in the program.
As an HBCU graduate from Dillard University, Kilgore knew that culturally competent pedagogy was important for Sirtify students.
Sirtify students take part in monthly social-cultural excursions in the metro to connect with various communities. Kilgore is also planning to take students to Senegal to give them a global perspective on their work.
“This idea of cultural infusion into the curricula is something that must be done particularly as we see the ever changing landscape with demographics with students here in Minnesota,” he said.
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