Event: iCamp Welcome Address (West Chester University)
Date: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Kicks of Choice: Air Jordan 9 “Black Bottom”
Thoughts captured on July 25, 2024
What’s the good word!
I’m broadcasting live from a location I like to call “Summer Vacation” – it’s a dope spot to check out, for real!
However, before I hit up Summer Break, I got a call from a colleague and friend – Dr. Laquana Cooke. Laquana’s work in Digital Humanities and Technology is really official! But one of the events she does that we’ve talked about over the years is the iCamp Program. iCamp gives youth from the Philadelphia area an opportunity to come onto West Chester campus to take classes and engage with college instructors, journalists and artists from across the city. So when she asked if I’d be willing to come through and give the opening address followed by a social justice ideation workshop, I was all in!
During the Welcome Address, I was asked to speak to students based on two points:
1 – What would I have done if I were given the opportunity to attend iCamp at their age?
2 – What are five pieces of advice they can use to make it through their iCamp experience?
I had fun just talking with students about how I had to go to St. George’s (and basically leave home) in order to access such a robust experience. Then I gave them some important pieces of advice about remembering who they are, where they’re from, and how all of that contributes to the greatness of who they are now, and who they will grow to become.
The Social Justice Ideation workshop was super-fun to plan. It got me back into my “Working with High School Students” bag. I’ve always felt that if you can get high school students to rock with you, then the teaching and facilitating you’re doing is strong. Because in high schools, these kids will let you know in a HOT MINUTE if what you’re doing is trash! So I came at the idea of social justice through the lens of the Drake versus Kendrick battle that took the Hip Hop world by storm (I mean, it captured all of popular culture as well, but who am I to quantify such things). After an icebreaker that included students picking their favorite Drake, Kendrick or Hip Hop songs, we talked about the meanings of equality, equity and justice and put it into action by watching Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” video, and specifically tapping into the opening knock at the door, then the third verse on Atlanta, Black culture, and what it means to give back to a community when you’re reached certain personal and professional levels. I got the sense that students were with me, so I was glad to have the iCamp space as an incubator for this idea a month before the start of the academic year. There were a couple wrinkles I’m looking forward to ironing out in the upcoming weeks, but overall it went well. By the end, parents thanked me for sharing my experiences with their children, students were thanking me for a dope workshop, and the instructors were appreciative of the way I brought social justice to the forefront for students who will continue on from my workshop to plan social justice concepts in various disciplines.
As always, shout out to Dr. Laquana Cooke for inviting me into the iCamp space! And shout out to Dr. Michael Burns, Dr. Jeremy McCool, Assistant Program Director Gabriela Melchiorre (who kept the program running like a fine-tuned machine), Dr. Randall Cream, and all the other folks who I got a chance to meet and connect with at iCamp. Y’all are doing great work, so keep it going!!!
I’m going to retreat back to that location I’m in called “Summer Vacation” while I still have some time left. But best believe there will be some dope announcements that are forthcoming for “K for the Way” as we approach the one-year anniversary of the book release!
More soon…
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