Danae Dunlap is a Las Vegas, Nevada native, currently enrolled in the Computer Science program at Advanced Technologies Academy. She is a proud member of her school’s chapter of National Honor Society, UNICEF, Women in Science and Technology, Black Student Union, and Code Switch's Youth Justice Leadership & Community Advocacy Fellowship programs. Danae regularly volunteers after-school to tutor elementary to middle school aged children. She credits her middle school teacher, Ms.Conner, for not only inspiring her to go into STEM but to encourage other young African-American kids to do so as well.
Deja Dunlap, Class of '22
Deja Dunlap is a junior currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada and is expecting to graduate from Advanced Technologies Academy in the Spring of 2022. She is currently studying Computer Science and plans to continue her studies throughout university. Deja is an active member of her school’s Women in Science and Technology. National Honor Society, UNICEF, Black Student Union, and Code Switch's Youth Justice Leadership & Community Advocacy Fellowship. She has dedicated her free time to tutoring youth in computer science, robotics, and various other subjects. Deja plans to use her experiences from having attended both an underfunded, underrepresented school with a predominantly black population, and the best schools in her state with a predominantly white population to try to educate people about the importance of focusing on helping underfunded schools and how we can begin to acknowledge our shortcomings and correcting them. Deja enjoys watching and analyzing movies and tv shows and reading books in her spare time.
Acacia Dorsey, M.Ed.
Acacia Dorsey is a K-8 educator, specializing in developing equitable learning pathways for differently abled and neurodiverse students. She is currently a doctoral student and Graduate Research Assistant at The University of Nevada Las Vegas where she will earn a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Cultural Studies, International Education and Multicultural Education. Her studies will amplify and center the schooling experiences of differently abled student populations. Research interest also include querying the leaky teacher of color pipeline from an intersectional lens.
Tracy Edwards, PhD
Tracy Edwards is a K-12 Educator and Curriculum Specialist currently serving as an Online Instructor and Curriculum Designer with Odyssey Charter Schools. Her areas of expertise include curriculum design, e-learning, and project management. Also a Distinguished Teach Plus Fellow, Dr. Edwards’ research centers teacher leadership and public advocacy, teacher recruitment and retention, and developing culturally responsive and engaging curriculum for online learning. Recent publications include Op-Eds for EdWeek, Edutopia, and ASCD.
Tonya Walls, PhD
Tonya Walls is Nationally Board Certified Teacher, former K-12 educator, and Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Nevada Las Vegas. Her scholarship centers the voices and experiences of Black girls and women. She organizes with Teachers for Social Justice Las Vegas and Code Switch: Restorative Justice for Girls of Color, where she advances girls rights through community engaged participatory action research focused on Black Educator retention, educational equity, culturally relevant, sustaining, and humanizing pedagogies, and dismantling the cradle-to-prison nexus.