ONHONORROLL TEAM
Your Teacher Friends
#OnHonorRoll was the brainchild of three teachers who wanted to honor their fellow coworkers across the nation for the work they have done with kids and families during the pandemic. Kristen, Erica and Teneshia formed a bond while working at a school in Northeast DC and have used that friendship as the inspiration for this project. With the help of Fred T. Joseph and his community of superheroes, we are able to bring this project to life.
Our team has two major components, the Teacher Selection Committee and our Interns. The Teacher Selection Committee is made up of educators, parents and students who choose our winners in each category. Our Interns support our work with social media, communications and developing our podcast @TalkAtRecess.
Above graphic done by Christine Vineyard (@lidflutters).
Kristen Corliss
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Kristen, a native New Yorker, currently works for D.C. Public Schools. Kristen was nominated for 2020 D.C. Teacher of the Year, and 2019 SXSW EDU teacher mentor. Kristen is a 10+ year veteran public school teacher, and serves on the Teacher Advisory Council for the Office of the Superintendent for Washington D.C. and the D.C. Public Schools Equity Planning Committee. She is also a former fellow of the Flamboyan Foundation and CitiBridge Design Lab. She is co-founder of the educational group @TalkAtRecess
Teneshia Griffin
Founder & Chief Experience Officer
Teneshia is an elementary school teacher for DC Public Schools. Originally from Philly, she is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. from Morgan State University as well as a member of the National Council of Negro Women. She has served in the AmeriCorps Community Service program in Baltimore City Schools. Between being a wife and mom, she is also the creator behind Bookworm Brown Girl Book Club. She is co-founder of the educational group @TalkAtRecess.
Erica Jackson
Founder & Chief Consulting Officer
Erica is a Black and Mexican woman from Chicago, IL residing in Washington D.C. and has been an effective educator in Tennessee, Chicago and D.C..Erica is utilizing her experience in both the traditional and charter school systems to advise programming for schools, speaking about classroom management to undergraduate students at universities and is focusing her dissertation on culturally relevant teaching. Along with her love for education, Erica is working on launching her series of coloring books and puzzles for young students of color. She is co-founder of the educational group @TalkAtRecess.
Fred T. Joseph
Founder
Frederick Joseph is an award-winning marketing professional, media representation advocate and writer who was recently selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 List. He is a New York Times bestselling author for his debut book “The Black Friend.” He’s the winner of the 2018 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, given by Comic-Con International: San Diego, and was selected for the 2018 Root 100 List of Most Influential African Americans. He lives in New York City. He is founder of the creative agency We Have Stories and creator of #TheBlackPantherChallenge and #RentRelief
Pablo del Olmo
Teacher Selection Ambassador
Pablo del Olmo is an English as a Second Language Teacher at Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappingers Falls, NY. His educational experience also included Adjunct Professor and Assistant to the Director of the Haggerty English Language Program at SUNY New PaltzPrior to teaching he worked for a production company at Warner Brothers after graduating from the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. He continues to stoke and share his passion for the arts and entertainment by directing the spring musicals by the Masque and Mime Society at his school. He is thrilled to be able to participate in this wonderful endeavor with #OnHonorRoll.
Colton Gibbons
Teacher Ambassador
Colton Gibbons is an Asian-American transgender advocate in both the DC and online community. He was adopted from Hanoi, Vietnam by a single mother who was a teacher in New York. Colton moved to DC to complete his masters degree at Georgetown University. His thesis focused on Transgender Athlete participation and Inclusivity in schools. In addition to his work in the LGBTQ+ Space, Colton also participates in initiatives for social equity. He is a community member of The Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families Foundation where he co-facilitates a program called Dialogues on Race and Equity.
Simaya Hammond
Social Media/Teacher Selection Intern
Simaya Hammond is a volleyball player and student at DC Public Schools. She won the Black Futures Essay Contest in February 2020 and is an aspiring author. She is also active in the after school STEM program for girls, Techbridge and the Girls First mentoring program. Simaya received the Citizenship and Community Awards at her graduation and currently maintains a GPA to be #OnHonorRoll.
Dr. Maimuna Majumder
Teacher Ambassador
Dr. Maimuna (Maia) Majumder is an infectious disease epidemiologist and faculty member of the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Her research group has been involved in COVID-19 response efforts since January 2020, specializing in machine learning approaches to improve the effectiveness of interventions against both disease transmission and medical misinformation. [Twitter] [Wikipedia]
Sage Salvo
Teacher Selection Commiittee
Armed with a patent-pending algorithm to convert song lyrics into literacy tools, Gil Perkins (doing business as Sage Salvo) developed a digital platform as a service (PaaS) called The Opus App, to facilitate the mass collaboration between music artists and classrooms for automating lesson plans for literacy instruction. Salvo is the social-entrepreneur founder of Words Liive and is a 2020 Education Pioneers Fellow, 2018 AT&T Aspire Entrepreneur, 2018 Lean-Lab Fellow, 2017 Clinton Global Initiative-Social Entrepreneur, 2017 4.0 Schools Fellow and 2017 Camelback Ventures Fellow.
Toshana Simpson
Teacher Selection Ambassador
Toshana Simpson, is a Cyber-Security Analyst at a leading global company in the integration and application of information technology, engineering and science. As a mother of two and D.C. native, Toshana understands firsthand how important education within the nation’s capital is and has continued to work closely with her daughters schools actively on the Parent Action Team for over 10+ years. As an active parent working hands on when needed, she knows all too well the time, effort and skill it takes teachers and staff to educate our children. In addition to her leadership on the PAT, she is also an active volunteer at So Others Might Eat (SOME). Instilling the importance of education, community and love into her children will always be her number one goal.
Kelly Yutesler
Teacher Selection Ambassador
Kelly Yutesler has been teaching in the middle grades for 14 years, and is currently a Social Studies Teacher in Washington, D.C..Previously, she was a Professional Development Lead, Teacher Mentor and PBIS Coordinator in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Kelly has a Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and German Language and Literature and a Masters degree in English Literature. In 2016, she became a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves on the DC Chancellor’s Teacher Advisory Council.