La’Mont Geddis is currently a Technology Coordinator for Prince George’s County Public Schools and
a part of the Developmental English Department Faculty at Prince Georges’ Community College. He is
a certified teacher for PGCPS and holds a certification for DCPS. Mr. Geddis has been in the field of
education for the past 8 years. He started his interest in education when he was a student at Howard
University and worked for the Children’s Defense Fund’s Black Community Crusade for Children and
the Black Student Leadership Network, as an Ella Baker Trainer. As a trainer he participated in
various workshops, Advanced Service Advocates Workshops and was trained in grassroots strategies
for educating the “whole-Child”, according to research. All trainings took place in Clinton Tenn., on
Alexis Haley’s Farm.
La’Mont Geddis is a New York native and travels abroad to take students to study in a program call
Student-Ambassador’s People to People program. Mr. Geddis is a graduate from Howard University;
he has a Bachelor in English and a Masters degree in Education, Curriculum and Instruction. He is
currently a doctorial candidate at the Univ. of Maryland in Educational Policy and Leadership. While at
Howard University Mr. Geddis was a Campus Pal, Resident Assistant, apart of the Undergraduate
Student Assembly and student elections. In 1995 Mr. Geddis received the highest honor any male
could receive at HU. He was nominated and appointed as Mr. Howard University, an ambassador for
the University. In 1996 he was accepted into the fold of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1997 he
received another high accolade; he was nominated and selected as Omega Man of the year. In 1999
while working as a teacher in DCPS he received the “Teacher of the Year” award from Howard
University Math Science Initiative program for the Upward Bound Program. Mr. Geddis is also
published. He has several four star standard based lessons on the ALI (Apple Learning Interchange)
where other educators can visit this database to retrieve ideas on innovative teaching strategies.
In his spare time Mr. Geddis enjoys spending time with his loving family. He is the proud father of two
children, Kamel and Kyndell Geddis. He is a single father and ensures that he continues to better
himself so that he can continue to provide for his family. Mr. Geddis is also the sponsor of the
Gentlemen’s Association, a mentoring program for young men at Dr. Ernest E. Just Middle School,
which is. He is also the proud founder of the Cyber Camp Program, which is a new initiative in PG
County that trains students to become Trainers in computer and multi-media technology.
Mr. Geddis is an awesome educator and fantastic motivator and inspirational speaker. Everyone who
knows him is truly inspired to continue to work on improving him or herself. Mr. Geddis is a Christian
male who easily shows the light from the creator in all that he does. Mr. Geddis’ motto is: Meet
children where they are… and take them where they should be.
Nadeen L. Herring, a proud single mother of three boys – all under the age of six – is an Education
Specialist at Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In her present station,
she serves as an administrator in the adult education division where her primary focus is recruiting and
retaining students in the GED program, teaching all five subjects – English, Writing, Science, Social
Studies, and Math – to adult students, and transitioning GED graduates into college.
A graduate of both Spelman College and Columbia University, Nadeen is a certified secondary teacher
of English, has served with AmeriCorps Hands On Atlanta, is a member of the Pennsylvania Black
Conference on Higher Education, Inc., and is a dutiful servant to our children, having taught and
tutored for more than 10 years.
In addition to her vocational obligations, Nadeen started C.H.O.I.C.E.S. (Choosing to have Options In
Community Empowerment) where she holds free bi-weekly classes for lower-income parents in
southside Harrisburg. The classes range from discussions on self-esteem, parenting, time-
management, to bettering the teacher-parent relationship.
But the founding of her own “enterprise-in-progress”, mothasistah, where she provides writing, editing,
and tutoring services and performs poetry and motivational speaking for various public engagements,
has become her personal project. To work “in her passion” would provide the means of giving more to
her sons, who remind her everyday that there is no time to waste – our children need us now.
Edward is the youngest of three boys born to Beverly and Edward L. Kirkland. Born and raised in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, Ed has always had a passion for service. After
attending two of Brooklyn’s District 13 Title 1 schools, Ed went on to pursue a full scholarship to the
Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. After graduating in the top 10 percent of his class,
he followed in his eldest brother’s footsteps and attended Morehouse College in the fall of 1997. It
was during this time that Ed became involved with the Black Community Crusade for Children, serving
as an Intern at the Clearpool Freedom School in his hometown of Brooklyn. Ed has served in various
capacities as an Intern, a Project Director, and as an Ella Baker Trainer over the last six years of his
involvement with the movement to “leave no child behind.” Ed graduated cum laude from Morehouse
College, leaving with service in his heart, and a dedication to children and community.
Ed worked for two years in the Atlanta Public School system as an instructor for students with
Emotional/Behavior disorders at Henry McNeal Turner Middle School. Currently, Ed serves the metro
Atlanta area as a Health Education Coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Georgia. Ed coordinates
“Boys to Men,” a male youth development program designed to combat high-risk behaviors. Ed
believes firmly in the saying, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
Dr. Folami Prescott-Adams is assistant director of programs of Communities in Schools of Atlanta where
she is responsible for program evaluation and staff development. She has spent the last 15 years working
in school reform with Georgia State University, the Annenberg Challenge and several metro Atlanta school
districts.
She completed her undergraduate degree in Sociology at Brown University, a Masters in Educational
Administration from Temple University and a Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Georgia State University.
She has also directed school-based youth programs for 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Morehouse School of
Medicine and Turner Broadcastings’ CNN Student Bureau. Her current works-in-progress include a book
based on her research on Parental Mediation of TV Viewing (featured on Cable in the Classroom’s web
site), an imaginative children’s TV show entitled Come Be With Me and the next volume of her series of
children’s music Praise Songs and Every Day Songs. She has four children, all students or graduates of
Atlanta Public Schools, who constantly remind her that all education begins at home.
Kelli N. Sparrow, MSW has been a Servant Leader with the Movement to Leave No Child Behind
since 1998. A graduate of Rutgers & Temple Universities, Ms. Sparrow has found some of her most
valuable learning in various capacities on Freedom School Sites throughout Philadelphia. An Ella
Baker Trainer for the Children’s Defense Fund for 4 years, Ms. Sparrow has learned the value of
providing fundamental training to young people and allowing their natural creativity to take projects
to their next most progressive steps. Freedom School is a project that excites her especially
because of its penchant to make a leader of EVERYONE even if that leader exists behind the
scenes as did Ms. Ella Baker.
As the Coordinator of Philadelphia Freedom Schools, Ms. Sparrow appreciates the opportunity to
create meaningful, lasting, and relevant alternative learning experiences for high school students
within the Junior Servant Leader Project. The Project is designed not only to excite high school
students about reading, but to emphasize the necessity for them to remain active cultural workers in
the centuries old struggle to re-envision, redefine and remake the realities of being African in the
Americas. Ms. Sparrow feels blessed that she is engaged in work that she was born to do.