Big Jumps

“How can we make the school a staple in this community?" Ms. Chivon Ford Assistant Principal, History Teacher, Dean of Students, Preschool Teacher, Alumni Counselor “[I] have an educational privilege. How can I check it? How do I use it for good?” Chivon Ford was born and raised in Chicago. She was privileged to have Black educators throughout elementary school. She enjoyed school along with her “cousin siblings” finding it fun, an escape from home. She ranked number one in her class at Kenmore High School, where she noticed even then the differences in the quality of her IB education from that of her cousins’ regular track within the same building. She planned to go into Law, attending Vanderbilt to be near her cousins at Tennessee State. With little direction and no plan, she majored in Philosophy. From there she started teaching and never turned back. “ I now understand why you have those teachers - 40 year educators, because the work is hard. There has to be passion and love in it.” Chivon has experienced dichotomies in the educational system, from schools in the north and south, urban and affluent, and PWI and HBCU. It’s important for Black students to have representation in Black educators and Black administration. A philosopher and self-proclaimed radical, she wonders what can be done to improve the state of Black education and how can we do it on our own.