Our History
In the spring of 2014, a group of students went on the first North St. Louis immersion spring break trip. They had a variety of experiences in schools, churches, and communities of North St. Louis. Coming out of that experience, they realized that the types of injustices and issues they learned about from community members could not be engaged in a week, but required a long term commitment. This prompted Nebu Kolenchery and Dr. Norm White to conceptualize the Overground Railroad to Literacy, a group of SLU students who commit to building relationships in North St. Louis through weekly tutoring and reflection. There were 4 communities that the students on the trip visited that have after school programs and specifically asked for support in the form of SLU tutors. These communities were Missionaries of Charity, Vashon High School, Walbridge Elementary School, and Sanctuary of North Campus. These partnerships were intended to begin in the fall.
On August 9th, Mike Brown was shot in killed in Ferguson, St. Louis. This was neither the first nor the last time that an unarmed black person would be killed by a police officer; however, it was the initiation of the mass public awareness of the issue and months of serious protests. Ferguson became the one word way to describe the immense shift of black lives and racism into public awareness. The Black Lives Matter did not start here, but did gain wide notoriety in the protests that to this day still occur in and around St. Louis whenever black lives are destroyed. For all these reasons and more, Ferguson quickly became the context of the Overground Railroad. SLU immediately began to consider the ways in which we are and are not committed to our St. Louis neighbors. Discussing Ferguson and the other ways that institutionalize racism manifests itself became a part of the Overground Railroad and its members.
Due to the evidential presence of the pipeline in the St. Louis public school system, Overground was intentionally created and named to testify to the need of students to escape this pipeline and racial oppression. Like the Underground Railroad was created as an escape route from slavery, the Overground aims to interrupt the pipeline, at least for the students that we interact with. The name “Overground” suggests that we do not do this work in secret, but rather broad daylight. Not only do we work to disrupt the pipeline in schools, but we advocate and educate about the pipeline on our campus and among the members of our organization. In addition, we are named Overground with the intention of breaking down the rhetoric “don’t go past the Fox”. The idea that SLU is a safe place, but the surrounding neighborhoods are places of fear and hopelessness is a stigmatizing and untrue stereotype. SLU tutors should learn to challenge these statements whenever they are heard, even within our own speech. The pipeline is an important foundation of knowledge to operate on. If we can understand the reality of the school to prison pipeline, it can influence the way we see ourselves in the context of service. Overground tutors aim to ally students through service, understanding our place in the system as well as our responsibility to disrupt it.
Norm White
Dr. Norm White was a professor at Saint Louis University, the founder of the Overground Railroad to Literacy, and a criminologist by trade. His passion for student learning and growth towards becoming wholesome individuals extends far beyond his work at SLU. In 2014, Dr. White worked with students Lizzie Corcoran, Tommy English, Matt Heskamp, Nebu Kolenchery, Audrey Manners, and Maddie Zimmerman to start Overground. His support was critical in both creating Overground and helping it become what it is today. Dr. White passed away in December 2017, but his influence remains prominent throughout the St. Louis community and his cause lives on through those he inspired.
On December 6, 2017, Overground’s beloved founder, Norm, suddenly passed away. Hoping to perpetuate his legacy in the St. Louis community, the leaders of Overground worked hard to stabilize the organization. As a way of securing a budget and other opportunities for the organization, Overground leadership successfully sought Chartered Student-Organization status. Additionally, we considered who would replace Norm as our advisor and were referred to Dr. Bryan Sokol. Bryan was a close friend and colleague of Norm, who knew his vision for Overground well. During the Spring 2018 semester, Overground added Ashland Elementary School as another site.
As Overground entered its fourth year in existence, we continued to evolve as an organization. We added La Salle Middle School to our network of sites, and planted the seeds of what would become an Art Enrichment program. We spent this semester collaborating with other service-based organizations on campus, and we even applied for an 1818 grant to initiate trauma-informed training within our organization. We painted 2 murals inside Ashland Elementary School and game spaces outside. The following semester, we held our first benefit concert in collaboration with Sofar Sounds St. Louis. Moreover, we made significant changes to the Leadership Team, as outlined by the leadership position descriptions.
In Fall 2019, Overground added another site, Ames Elementary School. Additionally, we welcomed over 100 tutors into our membership. We also started an Advocacy Committee and stabilized our Art Enrichment program. We also began conversation with the Center for Service and Community Engagement, in consideration of partnering with them for their tenth anniversary celebration. We also started the process of creating a Memorandum of Understanding with the Saint Louis Public Schools District.