Speakers

Jessica Phillips is an English Language Arts teacher at Elmwood Village Charter School, where she has been teaching and learning with students since 2020. Since then, she has worked with students to bring a newspaper club and GSA club to the school and co-founded its National Junior Honor Society chapter. Jessica earned her graduate degree in Urban English Education in 2023 and continues to work with teachers across Western New York to integrate antiracist and social justice pedagogies into their practices. Through the Antiracist Inquiry Collective, Jessica planned lessons and resources to support WNY's teachers and students after the Tops Massacre in 2022. She spoke on Critical Whiteness in Antiracist Education at WNYNET's Fall 2022 Conference, has worked with the 1619 Teacher Institute, and most recently, has presented as Buffalo State's English Education Alumni Speaker on the topic of Afrofuturism in the middle school classroom.

Olivia Colby is an English Language Arts educator at Niagara Falls High School where she works in the Big Picture alternative learning program and teaches grades 9-12. She graduated with her bachelor's degree in Secondary English Education from Buffalo State University in 2023, where she also plans to begin her master's this upcoming year. Olivia is extremely passionate about project-based learning and real-world application of content material for her students, as well as using education as a form of resistance. She has previously presented at the annual National Council of Teacher's of English Conference. 

Valerie Reppi has taught for fourteen years as a middle school and high school English Language Arts teacher and has served as a Department Chair, Regional Chair, mentor teacher, Intervention Coordinator, and professional development facilitator. She is currently serving as the Vice President of WNYNET while teaching graduate and undergraduate courses at Buffalo State through the Center for English Teaching and College Writing Program.