Student Spotlight

CHANTELLE GRACE

Chantelle Grace is a fourth-year doctoral student and mother-scholar in ETAP. She attended UGA for both her bachelor's and master's degree programs which means upon completion of her doctoral program, she will be a Triple Dawg! Her research interests focus on the inclusion of critical inquiry in social studies as a way of centering the experiences of people of color while simultaneously disrupting the problematic master narratives that frequently privilege Whiteness. She'll be beginning her comprehensive exams this fall so wish her luck!

Prior to coming to UGA for the doctoral program, Chantelle taught 9-12 grade social studies at Chestatee High School in Gainesville, GA for six years where she was involved in various activities, such as coaching volleyball and serving as an advisor to the school's HoPe Club. During her time at Chestatee, she was named Teacher of the Year, a C.W. Davis Scholar, as well as a PAGE Foundation Professional Scholar. Some of her greatest memories while working there were the relationships she was able to build with her students as well as the pranks she and her colleagues would play against each another.

Some fun facts... Chantelle was born in Bronx, NY, but grew up in Columbus, GA. She is a proud Puerto Rican, wife, and mother to a one-year-old son. When she is not doing schoolwork, she enjoys reading, binge-watching shows on Netflix, and spending time with family.

DAMARIS DUNN

Damaris Dunn was born and raised in New York City. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in History from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2012. Upon graduation, she attended Teachers College Columbia University where she received a master’s degree in History and Education in 2016. Damaris began her career as a social studies teacher at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. On Saturdays she co instructed spoken word and archival research at the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture’s Junior Scholars Program in Harlem. In 2015, Damaris left the classroom to work for Global Kids, Inc, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing youth leaders for the global stage. At Global Kids, Damaris was a youth developer and community school director committed to creating space and place for Bronx youth and their families to thrive. Damaris is a second-year doctoral student in ETAP. She is committed to centering the lived and embodied experiences of Black girls and their joy in K12 settings.

Damaris started posting “the word of the day” every morning out of a need to center herself. It became a good habit that family and friends began to expect on her social media platforms. If she does not post “the word of the day” the likelihood of receiving a text or phone call from family and friends are high.

Amber Neal

Amber Neal is a proud Detroit native, and third-year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice with a focus on Critical Studies in Education. Her interdisciplinary research interests include the historical foundations of Black education; spirituality in education; Black women teachers; and abolitionist teaching. Amber previously served in various capacities within the Houston Independent School District (HISD), including elementary reading and social studies teacher, grade level chair, curriculum writer and ESL newcomer instructor. She earned a master’s in social work from the University of Georgia, and went on to leverage this background in schools, establishing a mentoring group called “My Sister’s Keeper” to address the socio-emotional needs of elementary Black and brown girls. As a member of the Advisory Board of Teaching Tolerance, she provided feedback and expertise on anti-racist, social justice materials for teachers and education professionals. In 2017, Amber was nominated as Bowling Green State University’s Alumni Educator of the Year and is also a Fulbright scholar, selected to explore the political, social, cultural and educational landscape in Thailand and Tanzania.

Instagram and Twitter: @blk_herstory

Danielle Charlemagne

Daniella Charlemagne is a first year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice with a focus in Social Studies education. Danielle has early research interests in philosophies of history. With roots and commitments in the Caribbean and her native island of Saint Lucia, Danielle is particularly drawn to the redemptive and decolonizing potential of “doing history”. Serving, currently, as a graduate teaching assistant, Danielle is invested in the ways History teacher training programs partner with K-12 instructors to develop a critical pedagogy that is best suited to global citizenship and that is guided by historical literacy. She earned her Masters in Education in History 5-8 from the University of Amherst, MA, but is most proud of her “Smithie-ness” as a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, MA. With over ten years in the middle school classroom as a Lead Global Studies teacher, Danielle has served in various capacities as History Department Chair, Curriculum Advisor for Exploration Summer Programs at Yale University, and most recently at Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Florida, where she spearheaded the transformation of the 7th-grade community service program into fully functioning service-learning model, overseeing curriculum and operations in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

SungEun Min

SungEun Min is a third-year doctoral student at ETAP. He was ‘Made In Korea’, born, raised, and educated in South Korea. His hometown is Busan, which is famous for beautiful beaches, seafood, and the world’s largest department store. His research interests include comparative and international studies of teaching and learning in East Asia and North America while using postcolonial theory to problematize the Euro-centrism embodied in contemporary societal norms.

He received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Chinju National University of Education in 2009. Upon graduation, he served mandatory military service at the Eighth U.S. Army base as a KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the United States Army) for two years. During his service, he received the General Paik Sun-yup Leadership Award as an exemplary KATUSA. From 2011 to 2018, he taught in public elementary schools as a 5th and 6th-grade homeroom teacher and subject teacher (P.E. and English). At his first school, he ran an afterschool program with his American coworker exploring issues of conservation and endangered bird species through birding expeditions and an international school network. However, while he was teaching students, he started to get lost in seemingly binary options for a life path as a teacher: either a superintendent (winner) or a regular teacher (loser). Opting to take a third path, becoming an educational researcher, he enrolled in the master’s program at Chinju National University of Education, majoring in curriculum and instruction. In that program, he could learn various traditions of qualitative inquiry and experience field work exploring Korean students’ learning. This led him to study abroad in ETAP at UGA as he heard that there are many great educational researchers at UGA.

Before the pandemic, he enjoyed traveling to new places and playing sports like baseball, volleyball, and soccer. Currently, he enjoys playing disc-golf and tennis with his wife.

Dylan Brody

(they/them) is a first year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice with a focus on Critical Studies. New to the South, Dylan previously taught for fourteen years in the Early Childhood field, with a decade focused specifically on children ages birth to three at Indiana University in Bloomington. As they taught, they received their Masters in Elementary Education from IU, recognizing that they wished to pursue space and place to be amongst fellow critical scholars. Working with young children has been profoundly impactful on the ways in which they view and engage with the world, cultivating a deep desire for presence, mindfulness and care. Aligning their soul work with young children and their own internal drive toward justice, created a pedagogy of critical wonder in their classroom and beyond. This pedagogy acknowledges the already present critical issues young children are facing and dissecting in play, calling for caregivers and teachers to take an active role to create safe, equitable and justice-oriented curriculum which is collaborative, play-based and child-directed. Moving forward, as an out queer and trans-nonbinary scholar and educator, Dylan hopes to support fellow Early Childhood teachers in becoming critically oriented to care practices, policies, and ideologies that allow all members of the learning community to access belonging while challenging the barriers in place which perpetuate harm and oppression.

When they aren’t scholaring, Dylan approaches just about everything as spiritual practice. They love to be with the forest, to dance and move their body in meditation, to read comics under a weighted blanket, talk to their cat Bean, cook new recipes, and find the little moments in the day to day to heal and love themself. Dylan is a film fanatic, a storyteller, a feeler, a thinker, and someone who cares deeply about your wellness and liberation.

Sebastian Burkholdt

is an international student from Germany who spent a total of eight years in the United States. From 2006 to 2014, he attended the University of Bamberg in Bavaria for his teacher education program; and in 2010, he came to the US (and UGA) for the first time as a master's student and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies. He graduated from UGA with his M.A. in German Language and Literature in 2012 and earned his State Examination for German Public Secondary Schools in 2014. Since 2015, Sebastian is a doctoral student in Social Studies Education, and he taught as a graduate teaching assistant in social studies from 2015 to 2019. In 2021, he is determined to finish his PhD journey. Sebastian is primarily interested in history education, specifically education about dark chapters of history that some people consider “controversial” or “shameful”. The experience of critically thinking about Germany’s past and facing the responsibilities post-war generations bear, paved the way for Sebastian’s interests and research in the US. He is fascinated by the lack of critical thinking about slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, racism, White-supremacy, and Nationalism in much of K-12 education, and he is interested in the ways educators resist dominant narratives of American exceptionalism and teach critically about the past. For his dissertation, Sebastian interviewed and observed three ambitious public high school world history teachers who teach critically about the past and who engage their students in authentic intellectual work. He is interested how transformative learning experiences in these teachers’ lives and social identities they bring into the classroom influence how they conceptualize history, the teaching and learning of history, and the role of students in the classroom. Currently, Sebastian analyzes his data and prepares for writing it up.

Morgan Mendieta

is a third-year doctoral student in ETAP. A native Iowan, Morgan obtained her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from The University of Iowa (Go hawks!). She then went on to teach elementary school for Metro Nashville Public Schools and Gwinnett County before completing her master’s degree in early childhood education at UGA. Wrapping up her 7^th year of teaching, Morgan currently serves as an instructional coach in Gwinnett County while working (slowly, but surely) on her PhD part-time. Morgan’s research centers the triumphs and obstacles of women teachers, novice teachers, instructional coaches, and Title One students.

Morgan lives in Atlanta. In her free time, Morgan enjoys working out, cooking, nature, and spending time with her dog, Murphie, as well as friends and family. Morgan is looking forward to marrying Murphie’s dad in April 2022.

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