GEC Board of Directors
Lauren FineCo-President
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London MooreCo-President
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Lauren Fine was raised in Aurora, Colorado. She attended Claremont McKenna College and majored in Psychology. She joined Teach for America and spent two years in inner-city St. Louis teaching 3rd and 4th grade. Later she moved to Ghana to volunteer at a school for street children. Upon returning, she moved back to Colorado, attended graduate school at Regis University, and majored in Elementary Education. Lauren trained educators through Teach for America, as well as returned to Ghana with education-consulting work, before deciding she wanted to return to the elementary classroom. Lauren believes that all children deserve access to a quality education and she advocates for those rights both locally in Denver as well as through being Co-President of the Ghana Educational Collaborative. Lauren has worked with America Achieves, Collaborative for Student Success, Student Achievement Partners and Stand for Children working on the intersection between the classroom and education policy. Lauren's passion for equal opportunities in education both locally and abroad led her to co-create the Ghana Educational Collaborative and the Mate Masie Program in Ghana with London Moore. In recent years you could find Lauren working in Denver Public Schools, specifically with Turnaround schools. Currently, Lauren is a Learner Advocate with the Donnell- Kay Foundation based in Denver.
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London Moore is the Principal of THRIVE Baton Rouge, Louisiana first public boarding school. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently working on her PH.D in Curriculum and Instruction at Louisiana State University. She began her teaching career in Ghana, West Africa where she has since co-founded a non-profit, the Ghana Educational Collaborative, that sends children to school and gives them leadership and development training. She taught in Baker City Schools, becoming Park Ridge’s Teacher of the Year. She also worked for Teach For America helping recruit and train new teachers at the University of Southern California and the University of California-Irvine. London Moore is also a member and lead fellow of America Achieves and works on the intersection between the classroom and education policy, as well as has given recommendations to the U.S Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan on the RESPECT Project. She has worked on supporting the work of the Common Core as a Student Achievement Partners fellow. Further, she has been recognized as one of Baton Rouge's 40 Under 40. Ms. Moore strongly believes that all children have the right to a quality education and is committed to ensuring students and teachers reach their full potential. This conviction consistently drives her work. |
Rosie KriegerExecutive Board Secretary
Rosie Krieger was born and raised in sunny Los Angeles, California and spent the last 10 years living in Northern California. She attended UC Santa Cruz for college where she studied African and U.S. History and Education, then moved to Oakland for her first teaching position with AmeriCorps. She has been teaching in a wide-range of learning environments for the last 6 years! From public to private schools, preschool to 4th grade, Rosie values her time spent in diverse school settings. In June 2016, Rosie finished graduate school, gaining her Masters in Education and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. After graduating, Rosie and her boyfriend, Mike, and their little chiweenie dog Sunny, packed up everything and moved to New Orleans! Having fallen in love with the city during their first visit in 2012, Rosie and Mike decided to see what the world outside of California was like. She is currently teaching at a magical preschool and enjoying getting to know her neighborhood of Bayou St. John and tasting all of the incredible food that New Orleans has to offer. She is thrilled to be a part Ghana Education Collaborative because when she studied abroad in Ghana in 2009, she fell in love with the country and specifically connected to the incredible children. Rosie is passionate about education, social justice, and the beautiful West African country of Ghana! |
Lauren DavisTreasurer
Lauren was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She received her B.S. in Accounting from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Upon graduating, Lauren began working at an accounting firm in Denver, where she is currently a manager of assurance services. Lauren has held an active Colorado CPA license since 2009 and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA). Although her career path led her to accounting, Lauren has always had a passion for children’s education, which she has been able to maintain through her work with the Ghana Educational Collaborative. |
Akilah Edgerton
Board Member
Akilah Edgerton received her Bachelor of Social Work and a certificate in Global Studies from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. In 2007, she studied at the University of Ghana, which ignited her passion and love for the country. At the age of 13, Akilah founded Youth Alive Step, Dance, and Drum teams, a performing arts group that teaches the participants that education breaks the cycle of poverty and enables them to become independent and responsible adults. She is a member of 2013-2014 cohort of L.I.P.P.I (Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact). L.I.P.P.I equips women to become civic leaders in their communities, to impact policy on the local, state, and national levels, and to seek and hold on to elected positions. Currently Akilah is employed at Berkshire Art and Technology Charter School as a paraprofessional and is the Pastor of New Generation Global Ministry.
William YakahBoard Member and GEC Alum
William Yakah hails from Ghana and is currently majoring in Neuroscience a student at Michigan State University. He attended University Staff Basic School in Ghana wherein 9th grade, was amongst the first cohort of students to receive a full scholarship from Ghana Educational Collaborative (GEC) that enabled him to attend High school in 2011. As a GEC scholar, William was not only passionate about his success but was deeply concerned about the success of other scholars. He served as a peer mentor, tutor and a big brother to the lower grade scholars and regularly checked in on their school work and at their respective homes until he left in fall 2015 to study in the United States. Now as an alum and mentor, William works with Jenna to connect donors with stories and updates from GEC scholars. William is super excited to serve on the board of the non-profit that changed his life. More especially, he’s excited to work towards advocating for more students who’re brilliant yet financially challenged to have the opportunity to attend school or further their education to the highest level and pursue their dreams. Nikki StoumenBoard Member
] Nikki Stoumen was born and raised in Atlanta, GA and now calls New Orleans her home. She received her BA from Tulane University in Latin American Studies and Spanish & Portuguese. She also minored in English and International Development. Throughout college, Nikki liaised at Tulane’s Center for Public Service, where she managed service learning opportunities between community organizations and university students. Nikki is also in her 6th year of volunteering with Hogs for the Cause: a non-profit organization in New Orleans that fundraises through a BBQ competition coupled with a music festival to support children fighting pediatric brain cancer. At “Hogs”, Nikki acts as beverage manager for the festival and sits on the Silent Auction Committee for the annual Gala Dinner. For the past 3 years, she has worked at Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Services. Her professional experience with CCANO found its start in college, where she was an intern with the Refugee Resettlement office. This evolved into a professional career as a Legal Assistant with the Unaccompanied Children’s Program. Currently, Nikki is working as a Legal Representative with the Immigration Legal Services. Her work benefits both unaccompanied children and adults in the immigrant community in New Orleans. Her experiences with immigrant youth have shown her the importance of universal access to education and driven her to become involved in the initiative globally. Nikki serves on the board of Ghana Educational Collaborative (GEC) as the grant writer, looking for funding partnerships that align with the GEC mission of education equity. Nikki can be found trying new food at a music festival, throwing a dinner party or dancing in the streets of New Orleans with Bloco Sereia, a Mardi Gras Brazilian group! |
Loryn WindwehenBoard Member
Loryn Windwehen is an assistant principal at Jefferson Middle School in Northside ISD; San Antonio, TX. Prior to being an AP, she taught middle school science for 10 years. Now given the opportunity to lead other teachers formally, she is embracing this experience to make education better.
Windwehen was named the 2012 Overall Teacher of the Year for North East ISD in San Antonio, TX, 2012 Region 20 Secondary Teacher of the Year in Texas, received the 2012 Kens5 ExCel Award for Excellence in Education, known as the “Golden Apple Award” for teachers, and was a 2012 state finalist in the HEB Excellence in Education Awards under the Rising Star category. Most recently, she was selected as one of 27 educators to be a part of the prestigious class of ASCD's Emerging Leaders. In addition, she has been selected for the National Institute for Standards in Technology as well as a competitive fellowship sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association. She was one of 38 educators in the nation selected to travel to Brazil as the representative for the state of Texas as a part of the NEA-Pearson Global Fellowship Program. Richmond BoakyeAdvisory Board Member
Richmond Boakye hails from Ghana and has lived in Westminster, Colorado since 2011. Richmond has a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Metropolitan State University of Denver and currently working as a Senior Software Engineer for Travelers Haven in Denver, Colorado. His African Heritage and focus on African SeIf Empowerment has led him to a number of volunteer opportunities and numerous leadership roles in the community. Richmond served as the Speaker of the Metropolitan State University Student Government and the President of the African Student Union. He also helped form and served as a executive board member of Support Africa Empowerment Foundation International. Richmond loves sharing nuggets of wisdom with his friends which makes people sometimes call him as an old soul. When Richmond is free, he spends his time either cooking, playing soccer, watching movies or playing games. In all, Richmond loves to learn and help others. He believes failure is not failure if he learns from it. He is empowered to climb high with the sky not the limit. |